SA hits unemployment rate of 4.6 per cent for May, highest in the nation

SA’s jobless figures have risen again to claim the highest figure in Australia.

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South Australia has hit the nation’s highest unemployment rate, climbing from 4.5 per cent to 4.6 per cent for May.

Nationally, unemployment was steady at 3.9 per cent in May, despite the economy adding 61,000 jobs in the month amid climbing fears the Reserve Bank will be forced to slow the economy to tame runaway inflation.

The next highest state is Tasmania, which is 4.5 per cent.

SA’s participation rate for May was 63.2, the lowest on the mainland.

The state’s jobless rate of 4.5 per cent for April was a notable drop from 4.9 per cent recorded in March.

Opposition treasury spokesman Matt Cowdrey said South Australia’s result “paints a grim picture of the economic clouds on the horizon” under the new Labor government.

“South Australia’s unemployment rate is now the standalone worst in the country – a far cry from December when we had our lowest unemployment rate since records began in 1978,” he said.

But Treasurer Stephen Mullighan said figures also showed an extra 13,400 people were in full-time jobs, and the total number of South Australians with a job has increased to 592,800.

“The budget I handed down earlier this month was focussed on long-term investments to deliver long-term structural improvements to South Australia's economy, including our Hydrogen Jobs Plan,” he said.

The figures showed the number of full-time jobs across the country jumped by 69,400, while part-time jobs fell by 8700, according to the seasonally adjusted figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Underemployment dropped sharply, from 6.1 per cent to 5.7 per cent.

ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said the average pace of employment growth of 30,000 people over the past three months remained above the pre-Covid monthly trend of 20,000.

“The increase in May 2022 was the seventh consecutive increase in employment, following the easing of lockdown restrictions in late 2021,” Mr Jarvis said.

“In addition to the continuing trend of increasing employment, we have continued to see relatively stronger growth in hours worked. This is something we also saw this time last year, before the Delta outbreak,” he said.

Underemployment – those with jobs but who can’t get the hours they want – dropped sharply, from 6.1 per cent to 5.7 per cent, the lowest level since August 2008.

The under-utilisation rate, which combines the unemployment and underemployment rates, fell 0.3 percentage points to 9.6 per cent and the lowest level since April 1982.

The participation rate climbed to a record high of 66.7 per cent, from 66.4 per cent in April.

The consensus forecasts among economists was for an additional 25,000 jobs, and for the jobless rate to tick lower to 3.8 per cent.

The last time the national jobless rate was below 4 per cent was in May 1974, and with job vacancies around record highs, economists expect it to fall further over coming months.