Australia – Job growth steady in November with increase in part-time jobs

By memberservices@staffingindustry.com (Craig Johnson)

Employment in Australia remained steady in November compared to the previous month, according to data from the Australia Bureau of Statistics.

Total trend employment increased by 3,100 people to more than 11.9 million in November, reflecting an increase in part-time employment of 3,200 people and a small decrease of 100 people working full-time jobs. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of people employed increased by 39,100.

“Over the past year we have seen a shift towards part-time employment, particularly in the first half of 2016,” said Bruce Hockman, the general manager of ABS’ macroeconomic statistics division. “There are now around 138,300 more people working part-time than there were a year ago, and around 51,000 fewer people working full-time.”

The trend unemployment rate remained steady in November at 5.6% for the second consecutive month, having fallen over the past two years from 6.2% in November 2014. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged by 0.1 percentage points to 5.7%.

However, the report also found the trend underemployment rate remained at 8.5%for a third successive quarter.

“The underemployment rate is still at a historically high level for Australia, but has been relatively unchanged over the past two years,” Hockman said.

Source:: Staffing Industry Analysts Daily Newsfeed