Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.5% in December 2022, down by 0.8% when compared to the same period the year prior, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

When compared to November 2022, the unemployment rate remained unchanged.

The number of unemployed persons totalled 499,800 in December 2022, down 13.5% over the year but up 1.2% over the month.

The Bureau’s data also found that the number of employed persons stood at 13.74 million, up 3.4% over the year and down 0.1% over the month.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, monthly hours worked totalled 1.88 billion, up 59 million over the same period in 2021 and down 9 million over the month.

Meanwhile, Australia’s labour force participation rate stood at 66.6% in December 2022, up 0.4% over the year and down 0.2% over the month.

Lauren Ford, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said, “The seasonally adjusted participation rate fell 0.2% to 66.6%in December, back to around where it was in October. Despite this slight fall from its historic high, it finished the year 0.8% higher than its pre-pandemic level.”

The labour force participation rate stood at 71.2% for men and 62.3% for women.