Employers warn of 'increasingly weakening' labour market
Australia's unemployment rate inched up to 4.1% in January 2025 as the participation rate across the country hit a new record-high of 67.3%, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The number of unemployed individuals went up by 23,000 to hike the country's jobless rate by 0.1 percentage point in the beginning of the year.
The number of employed people also increased by 44,000, equivalent to 0.3% and around the same pace as the average monthly rise in 2024.
"The rises in both the number of people employed and unemployed saw the participation rate rise by 0.1 percentage point, to a new record high of 67.3%," said Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, in a statement.
"This was 0.8 percentage points higher than a year ago and 1.8 percentage points higher than March 2020."
The Australian government said the latest Labour Force data is "very encouraging."
"Average unemployment is lower under the Albanese Labor Government than any government in fifty years," the government said in a statement. "In total more than 1.1 million new jobs have been created under the Albanese Government, including 706,700 full-time positions."
But employers across Australia have a different perspective on the latest Labour Force data.
"New data shows the Australian labour market is increasingly weakening, pointing to the urgent need to kick-start the private sector economy," said Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group, in a statement.
According to the Ai Group, it is "telling" that around a third of the 67,000-person net increase in the labour force in January were previously unemployed.
The fall in wages growth to 3.2% for the December quarter of 2024 is also a sign of potential weakness.
"We cannot sustain Australia's strong labour market without strong businesses. The market private sector accounts for around 70% of jobs in Australia," Willox said. "Urgently rebooting conditions for business investment, employment, and growth must be a top priority going into this election year."
