Canberra, August 20
Australia’s unemployment rate rose to 4.5 percent in July. According to government data released Thursday, the increase came even though economists had forecast the rate would hold steady at 4.4 percent.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the number of employed people fell by 15,800 between June and July, while the number of unemployed rose by 4,200. July’s unemployment rate is among the highest since November 2021.
According to ABS head of labour statistics Sean Crick, male employment fell by 11,000 and female employment by 5,000 in July. He said that while the number of women working part-time fell by 22,000, the number of women working full-time rose by 17,000.
Total hours worked fell by 0.6 percent over the period, dropping to 1.99 billion hours. The ABS also reported that the participation rate among the working-age population, those employed or looking for work, fell from 67 percent in June to 66.9 percent in July.
–RSS/Xinhua
