SA unemployment rate equal highest nationally
Unemployment in South Australia rose slightly to 4.2 per cent in April, putting it alongside Victoria as the states with the nation’s highest jobless rate.
SA's jobless rate is now the nation's highest, along with Victoria. Photo: InDaily/Tony Lewis
Data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed unemployment in South Australia rose by 0.3 per centage points to 4.2 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis.
This means South Australia has the highest rate of unemployment in the country of all states and territories bar Victoria which also recorded a rate of 4.2 per cent.
It comes just two months after South Australian unemployment was the lowest in the nation, while the growth rate was softer than in March when unemployment grew by 0.6 points.
Nationally, the seasonally adjusted rate of unemployment was up 0.2 points to 4.1 per cent in April.
South Australia’s underemployment rate was at 7.3 per cent in April – a monthly change of 0.2 points. Just Tasmania (7.7 per cent) had a higher rate of underemployment.
ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said the national increase was a reflection of “more people without jobs available and looking for work, and also more people than usual indicating that they had a job that they were waiting to start in”.
“With employment rising by around 38,000 people and the number of unemployed growing by 30,000 people, the unemployment rate rose to 4.1 per cent and the participation rate increased to 66.7 per cent,” Jarvis said.
“The employment-to-population ratio remained steady at 64.0 per cent in April, indicating that recent employment growth is broadly keeping pace with population growth. This suggests that the labour market remains tight, though less tight than late 2022 and early 2023.”
On a seasonally adjusted basis, ABS data showed monthly hours worked remained steady between March and April, which Jarvis said was “similar to the normal pattern we usually see around the Easter holidays”.
“In contrast to what we saw last year, when fewer people than usual took time off around the Easter holidays in April 2023, the proportion of people working reduced hours in April 2024 was more similar to what we saw before the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
As for other jurisdictions, the Australian Capital Territory recorded the lowest rate of unemployment in the nation at 3.8 per cent, and was closely followed by Western Australia at 3.9 per cent.
All other states and territories recorded unemployment of between 4 and 4.1 per cent, and Queensland was the only state to see its rate remain steady in April.
