Unemployment rises to 5.8pc despite third month of full-time job gains

Updated

Unemployment has risen to 5.8 per cent, despite the creation of 13,500 jobs last month, due to an increase in people looking for work.

The Bureau of Statistics data show 9,300 full-time jobs were added, while 4,200 part-time positions were added.

The bureau's head of macroeconomic statistics, Bruce Hockman, said the rise in full-time jobs for a third straight month bucks a longer-term trend towards part-time work.

"Over the past year we have seen a shift towards part-time employment, particularly in the first half of 2016," he observed in the report.

"There are now around 120,900 more people working part-time than there were a year ago, and around 35,300 fewer people working full-time.

"Since December 2015, the share of part-time employment increased from 31.1 per cent to 31.9 per cent."

However, unemployment rose from 5.7 to 5.8 per cent due to a 0.1 percentage point rise in participation - the proportion of the adult population in work or looking for it - to 64.7 per cent.

Overall, economists see the latest numbers as further evidence of a patchy labour market, with both good and bad news.

"For the 2016 calendar year a total of 91,500 jobs were added – the weakest result since 2013," observed CommSec's Savanth Sebastian.

"Full-time jobs surged by 95,000 in the December quarter – marking the strongest quarterly growth in more than six years.

"The shift in the employment landscape is even more evident when you consider that the first nine months of 2016 saw paltry jobs growth of just over 24,000 with full-time jobs going backwards."

JP Morgan's Ben Jarman is even less optimistic.

"The fact that the unemployment rate has moved up from the recent lows and is unchanged over the past six to 12 months does break the improving trend that was in play from late 2014 to late 2015," he noted.

"A stalling labour market recovery similarly lends weight to concerns that domestic demand is losing momentum, as flagged in the business surveys and in recent consumption data."

The Northern Territory remained the best performing state or territory, with unemployment at 3.6 per cent.

Of the larger states, New South Wales was best placed at 5.2 per cent, while South Australia is the worst at 6.8 per cent.

However, NSW also had the biggest rise in unemployment during December, with less than 1,000 jobs created.

Queensland had the biggest loss of jobs, with more than 13,000 positions shed.

The state's unemployment rate jumped from 6 to 6.2 per cent, although the number would have been even worse if it was not for the fall in the participation rate from 64.4 to 64.1 per cent.

Topics: economic-trends, unemployment, australia

First posted