Australian unemployment rate falls

Canberra, June 15 (IANS) The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday reported a drop in the country's unemployment rate.

According to labour force data published by the ABS, the economy added about 76,000 jobs between April and May, driving the unemployment rate down to 3.6 per cent, reports Xinhua news agency.

The ABS said the increase in employment in May saw the number of employed people in Australia reach 14 million for the first time.

"Just before the start of the pandemic, almost 13 million people were employed in Australia. In May 2023, this had risen to just over 14 million people," Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said in a statement.

"In addition to there being around a million more employed people than before the pandemic, a much higher share of the population is employed."

Responding to the data, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that the Australian economy had added 465,000 jobs in the 12 months since May 2022.

The ABS data came when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) continued to increase interest rates to curb inflation, which is placing strain on the cost of living for some Australians due to the surge in mortgage interest rates.

Last week, the RBA decided to increase the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.10 per cent, which marked the fourth rate hike so far this year and also the 12th jump since May last year.

Sean Langcake from Oxford Economics Australia said that could not be the last rate hike based on the strong jobs numbers.

"The labour market remains very tight, which will contribute to stronger wage growth over 2023 -- compounding the upcoming increase in award wages," he said on Thursday.

"We expect to see two more rate hikes before the RBA takes a protracted pause."