Queensland unemployment rate rises in February
Queensland’s unemployment rate rose slightly in February, while Australia’s labour market eased a little despite thousands of extra jobs created. See how the state compares to the rest of the nation.
Queensland’s unemployment rate rose 0.1 per cent to 4.4 per cent in February on a seasonally adjusted basis, putting it in the middle of the pack of all states and territories.
While the state’s underemployment rate was steady at 6.3 per cent, and the number of employed people in Queensland fell by 0.2 per cent to just over three million people.
The Northern Territory recorded the highest level of unemployment at five per cent, followed by Victoria (4.7 per cent), Tasmania (4.6 per cent), Queensland (4.4 per cent), Western Australia (4.2 per cent), New South Wales (4.1 per cent), South Australia (4 per cent) and the Australian Capital Territory (3.5 per cent).
Australia’s unemployment rate jumped to 4.3 per cent in February, despite almost 48,900 more Australians finding a job.
The labour force figures, unveiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday, wrong footed the consensus of market economists, who had been tipping the jobless rate to hold steady at 4.1 per cent.
But 48,900 new jobs added to the economy was stronger than consensus expectations of a 20,000 increase.
The number of unemployed people grew by 35,000.
That contributed to the 0.2 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate, said Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics.
“This month we saw fewer people who were unemployed and waiting to start a job in January move into employment in February, compared to recent Februarys,” he said.
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“We also saw more people remaining unemployed this month compared to recent Februarys.”
There were also fewer people leaving jobs to retire compared to a year ago, contributing to a 0.2 percentage point increase in the participation rate to 66.9 per cent.
Part-time employment rose by 79,000 people, while full-time employment fell by 30,000 people.
The rise in the unemployment rate could ease Reserve Bank concerns that there is not enough spare capacity in the jobs market, contributing to inflation.
Although the strong growth in hiring and high participation rate shows the labour market remains robust.
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