Aussie Labour Market

Digging beneath the surface

We dig underneath Australia’s labour force headlines by looking at movements of people between employment, unemployment and outside the labour force.

Some key takeaways include:

• The share of workers becoming unemployed remains very low but has increased, particularly for males (which has happened during prior downturns).

• There has also been a rising propensity for Australians outside of the labour force to move into unemployment.

• The lack of full-time employment growth since mid-2023 is largely because of a sharp fall in part-time workers shifting into full-time work (rather than full-timers losing hours and becoming part-time).

• Youth labour market conditions have softened. Notably, young ‘outsiders’ - those not in a job - are transitioning into employment at much lower rates amid very sharp growth in the 15-24 year old population.