Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.4% in November 2022, down by 1.1% when compared to the same period the year prior, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

On a monthly basis, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate saw no change.

The number of unemployed persons totalled 491,700 in November 2022, down 22.6% over the year and up 1.5% over the month.

Meanwhile, the number of employed persons stood at 13.76 million, up 4.2% over the year and up 0.5% over the month.

Seasonally adjusted, monthly hours worked increased by 5.4% over the year and totalled 1.90 billion in November 2022.

Australia’s labour force participation rate stood at 66.8% in November 2022, up 0.6% over the year and up 0.2% over the month.

“The participation rate increased by 0.2% to 66.8% in November, returning to the record high we saw in June 2022. It was 1.0% higher than before the pandemic," Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said.

The participation rate for women also returned to the historical high of June, rising 0.2% to 62.4%. For men, the participation rate also rose 0.2% to 71.3%.

"The record high participation rate continues to show that it is a tight labour market, especially when coupled with very low unemployment," Jarvis said.