The fall represents the rise in employment as many people starting or returning to work
Australia's unemployment rate declined to four per cent in May 2024 after the government added nearly 40,000 jobs during the month.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that the number of employed people went up by 39,700, while the number of unemployed people decreased by 9,200.
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said the drop follows an unusually high number of unemployed people in April who were waiting to start work.
"Some of the fall in unemployment and rise in employment in May reflects these people starting or returning to their jobs," Jarvis said in a statement.
"There are now almost 600,000 unemployed people, however, that is still nearly 110,000 fewer people than in March 2020, just before the pandemic."
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
Underemployment rate remains steady at 6.7% in May 2024, while underutilisation rate remained at 10.7%.
Meanwhile, other employment indicators remained the same for the month of May, such as the employment-to-population ratio (64.1%) and the participation rate (66.8%).
Jarvis noted that both indicators continue to remain "much higher than their pre-pandemic levels."
"Together with elevated levels of job vacancies, this suggests the labour market remains relatively tight, though less than in late 2022 and early," he added.
The number of hours worked also fell 0.5%, according to the ABS.
"Similar to May 2023, around 4.2% of people worked fewer hours because they were sick, compared with the pre-pandemic average for May of 3.5%," Jarvis said.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the latest ABS data indicate that the labour market is an "important source of strength in difficult times.
"We are fighting inflation and repairing the budget without smashing the economy, and we see that in these tens of thousands of new jobs created in May," Chalmers said on X.
