Australia's unemployment rate for March has remained steady at a historic low of four per cent, as economic management remains the focus of the first week of the election campaign.
In March, a further 17,900 people joined the workforce, a smaller figure than expected by some economists.
Both the Reserve Bank of Australia and Treasury are forecasting an unemployment rate of 3.75 per cent later this year.
Unemployment rate 'doesn't tell the whole story'.
Australia Institute Senior Economist Matt Grudnoff says the economy should be analysed from a more nuanced perspective than solely the overall unemployment rate.
“There was little change in the labour force statistics from last month. While the headline rate of 4.0 per cent looks good by historical standards, it doesn’t tell the whole story," he said.
“There was a small increase in employment but the total number of hours worked fell.
“Underemployment continues to remain significantly higher than unemployment.
“While the absolute size of the labour force is now slightly larger than the pre-pandemic level, there are still hundreds of thousands of people who are missing.
“If we use the average increase in the labour force between 2015 and the beginning of the pandemic and project that forward to today, we can see that about 350,000 people are missing from the labour force. This is having the effect of making the unemployment figures appear to be lower Than it would have been if the labour force had continued to grow at the average rate.”
Actual labour force vs labour force with average growth rate. Source: Australia Institute
ACTU: Unemployment figures won't address 'rampant' insecure work and real wage cuts
President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Michele O’Neil also says the unemployment rate doesn't address key factors around working conditions.
“The Morrison government promised wages growth when unemployment hit five per cent, and four per cent, now working people are told the pay rises are coming, we just need unemployment in the three per cent range," Ms O'Neil said.
“The headline unemployment number hides the fact that millions of Australians are looking for more hours, working multiple jobs or have given up looking for work all together. Insecure work is the biggest barrier working people face in the fight for wage growth.
“The prime minister knows it will take action from the federal government to create wage growth, but like so many other issues, he has gone missing on wages when working people needed him most.
“For almost a decade, the federal government has been promising wage growth. The truth is Scott Morrison and his government will never deliver pay rises for working people because they do not accept that low wages and insecure work are a problem. Australian workers deserve better.”
Unemployment fell faster for women than men
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the unemployment rate fell faster for women than for men.
"The unemployment rate for women fell from 3.8 per cent to 3.7 per cent, the lowest it has been since May 1974," ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said on Thursday.
"It remained at 4.2 per cent for men, its second lowest level since November 2008 and just above the rate from December 2021 of 4.1 per cent," he added.
The underemployment rate decreased to 6.3 per cent, while monthly hours worked decreased by 10 million hours.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg used the latest figures to tout the Coalition's economic management and disparage the opposition.
"Today, we see confirmation yet again of Australia's world leading economic recovery. It is not luck, it is not an accident, it is the result of a carefully considered plan," Mr Frydenberg said on Thursday.
"An unemployment rate at four per cent, the equal lowest in 48 years. This time around, Anthony Albanese might seek to remember that because it shows that our economic plan is working."
Labor says wage growth needed to keep up with cost of living
Prior to the release of the figures on Thursday, Labor’s shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers said that despite the low unemployment rate, more must be done to boost wage growth as the cost of living rises.
“What we know is, as the unemployment rate has been around four per cent over recent months, is that’s still not generating the real wage growth that Australians need to keep up with the skyrocketing costs of living,” Dr Chalmers said.
“Even as unemployment has been falling in recent months ... we're not getting the real wage growth that we need to see in the economy.
"More people are working multiple jobs just to keep up with the skyrocketing costs of living and we have got serious skills shortages in our economy, which have been left unattended for too long.”
Scott Morrison attacks Labor's economic plan
In the lead-up to the release of Thursday’s job figures, Prime Minister Scott Morrison attacked the Labor Party over their economic plan.
“Only the Liberals and Nationals have an economic plan to back up the promises and commitments we are making at this election,” Mr Morrison said.
“You can say a lot of things in an election campaign, you can say all the things you like but if you don’t have an economic plan and if you don’t know how to manage money, and if you don’t even know what is going on in the economy - and I am not talking about the fact that he couldn’t remember a number, I am talking about the fact that he didn’t even know what the number was,” he added.
Australia’s unemployment rate became a central topic of discussion during the first week of the election campaign after Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese on Monday was unable to remember the unemployment rate or the Reserve Bank’s cash rate.
Mr Albanese later apologised for the mistake: “Earlier today I made a mistake. I’m human. But when I make a mistake, I’ll fess up to it, and I’ll set about correcting that mistake,” he said.
“I won’t blame someone else, I’ll accept responsibility. That’s what leaders do,” he added.
Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek defended Mr Albanese, saying “elections aren’t memory tests, they’re tests of leadership,” a sentiment echoed by Greens Leader Adam Bandt on Tuesday when he told a journalist to “Google it mate,” when asked about the wage price index.
Job figures are expected to play a key role in the federal election as the country's economy rebuilds after slumping during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
Australian youth jobs hit hardest during the pandemic
Thursday's figures showed the youth unemployment rate decreased by one percentage point to 8.3 per cent, a decrease of 3.3 points from March 2020.
But a report by the Australia Institute on Thursday revealed that youth unemployment was worst hit during the pandemic and called for a Youth Job Guarantee similar to systems in Europe.
Despite only representing 14 per cent of workers, the report showed Australians aged between 15 to 24-years-old bore 39 per cent of job losses in the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, and a staggering 55 per cent in 2021.
The report also found stimulus spending was disproportionally directed toward industries with minimal youth employment, including $2.7 billion to the aviation sector, $780 million to the Homebuilder grants program, and $2.9 billion to the “gas-fired recovery.”
"We've heard a lot this week about the headline unemployment rate of four per cent, but virtually nothing about youth unemployment which has now risen to 9.3 per cent," Eliza Littleton, research economist at the Australia Institute, said.
