The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics measured South Australia’s seasonally adjusted rate at 3.9 per cent, unchanged from November and the same rate as Western Australia.

New South Wales’ jobless rate of 3.4 per cent was the nation’s lowest, followed by Tasmania with 3.6 per cent, while Victoria recorded 4 per cent and Queensland 4.3 per cent.

South Australia’s participation rate, measuring those actively seeking work, dropped marginally to 63.5 per cent, while its underemployment rate rose slightly to 7.5 per cent.

“The strength in employment in October and November and the fall in December, reflected changes in the timing of employment growth in the last few months of 2023, compared with earlier years,” ABS head of labour statistics David Taylor said.

“While the December employment fall was large, the number of employed people was still 52,000 higher than September. Looking over the past twelve months, seasonally adjusted employment increased by an average of 32,000 people per month, showing reasonably strong underlying growth during 2023.

“Both the unemployment and underemployment rates remained relatively low and the participation rate and employment-to-population ratio relatively high, suggesting that the labour market remains tight.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government was focused on wrangling inflation.

“Having a three in front of the unemployment figure is very unusual,” he said.

“We are working on ways in which we can put that downward pressure on inflation whilst supporting employment.”
 
-with AAP