Official data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows Australia’s unemployment rate rose to 4.1% in April, surpassing expectations of 3.9% and the previous figure of 3.8%.
The Australian Employment Change registered 38,500 in April, a significant increase from the minus 6,600 in March and exceeding the consensus forecast of 23,700.
Australia's participation rate edged up to 66.7% in April from 66.6% in March. Full-time employment decreased by 6,100 during the same period, down from 26,600 previously. Meanwhile, part-time employment saw a notable increase of 44,600, compared to a decline of 32,500 in the prior month.
ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said, "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% and the participation rate increased to 66.7%."
"The 30,000 people increase in unemployment reflected 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," Jarvis added.
He further noted, "The increases in both employment and unemployment in April saw the participation rate up by 0.1 percentage point to 66.7% in April. It has been relatively high, above 66.5%, since March 2023.
"The employment-to-population ratio remained steady at 64% 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."
The higher-than-expected unemployment rate is now set to dominate market reaction, particularly as stronger than expected jobs growth was entirely in part-time jobs.