Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.6% in September flat when compared to the same period last year, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

On a monthly basis, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined by 0.1%

The total number of unemployed persons in September totalled 520,500, up 11,000 (2.2%) over the year but down 19,800 (-3.7%) when compared to the previous month.

Meanwhile, the number of employed persons totalled 14,111,200, up 394,300 (2.9%) over the year and up 6,700 (0.0%) when compared to the prior month.

Kate Lamb, ABS head of labour statistics, said, "With employment increasing slightly, by around 7,000 people, and the number of unemployed people falling by around 20,000, the unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in September.”

“It is important to remember that a fall in unemployment does not always mean much higher employment,” Lamb added. “The fall in the unemployment rate in September mainly reflected a higher proportion of people moving from being unemployed to not in the labour force.”

By state, Tasmania recorded the highest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 4.2%, followed by Northern Territory. On the other hand, New South Wales (3.3%), Western Australia (3.3%) saw the lowest rates.

In trend terms, Australia’s unemployment rate stood at 3.6%, up 0.1% over the year and flat over the month.

Australia’s labour force participation rate, on a seasonally adjusted basis, stood at 66.7%, flat over the year and down 0.2% over the previous month.

Monthly hours worked in all jobs totalled 1.93 billion in September, on a seasonally adjusted basis. This was an increase of 2.9% over the year and a decrease of 0.4% over the previous month.

“Annual growth in hours worked to September 2023 was no stronger than annual growth in employment – with both growing 2.9%– for the first time since December 2022 when we saw more people than usual working reduced hours due to illness,” Lamb said.

“The recent softening in hours worked, relative to employment growth, may suggest an easing in labour market strength, though it also follows particularly strong growth over the past year,” Lamb said, adding that the labour market continues to be relatively tight and resilient.