Unemployment down for the seventh straight month to 5.1 per cent

Australia’s unemployment rate is in decline, with more promising figures – especially for one demographic – released today.

Australia’s unemployment figures have decreased for a seventh consecutive time as Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says they are ”smashing market expectations” and more women than ever are working.

The nation’s jobless rate dipped almost half a percentage point to 5.1 per cent, with the number of unemployed decreasing by 53,000 to 701,000, according to the latest ABS figures.

However, what buoyed Mr Frydenberg most was the participation rate of women in the workforce following the seasonally adjusted figures released on Thursday.

Female employment was 1.6 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to the data, meaning more women “than ever before” were in paid work, Mr Frydenberg said.

There were also some 115,000 new jobs, he said.

Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg says the latest unemployment figures are ‘smashing expectations’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

“The Australian economy is roaring back,” Mr Frydenberg announced.

“Bigger, stronger and leading the world. Today, unemployment fell for the seventh consecutive month, 5.1 per cent, smashing market expectations.

“Participation was up. Underemployment was down … 115,000 new jobs were created of which around 85 per cent were full-time jobs, and of those 115,000 new jobs, 60 per cent went to women.

“Today, there are more women in work than ever before.”

He said almost a million jobs had been created since May last year, and since the end of March, when JobKeeper ceased, 84,000 jobs had come online.

The female participation rate is now 61.7 per cent after a 0.4 per cent jump, while the male participation rate rose 0.1 per cent to 70.9 per cent, according to Bjorn Jarvis, head of ABS labour statistics.

“The unemployment rate fell to 5.1 per cent, which was below March 2020 (5.3 per cent) and back to the level in February 2020,” Mr Jarvis said.

“The declining unemployment rate continues to align with the strong increases in job vacancies.”

Notably, the number of employed women increased by 69,000 in May compared with 46,000 men.

Australia has enjoyed its seventh consecutive fall in unemployment figures. Picture: James Ross

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by 0.4 to 5.1 per cent – 1.9 percentage points lower than in May 2020 and 0.2 percentage points lower than in March 2020.

Overall, the number of employees increased by 115,200 to 13.125 million, and there were 25 million monthly work hours in May.

In contrast to the overall jobless rate falling, there was a marginal increase in youth unemployment, Mr Jarvis said.

Even though it increased 0.1 per cent, it was still well down by overall standards, he said.

“The youth unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points but remained low at 10.7 per cent,” Mr Jarvis said.

The youth unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points but remained low, at 10.7 per cent, the ABS said. Picture: Supplied

“The last time we saw a youth unemployment rate as low as in April and May 2021 was in January 2009.”

There was also an increase in the participation rate of 0.3 per cent to 66.2 per cent.

The jump came after a 0.3 per cent fall in April and it was now closing on the historical high of March 2021 when it was 66.3 per cent.

Despite the declining unemployment numbers, there was still more to be done to reduce the number further, Employment Minister Stuart Robert said.

“There are still 1.1 million on primary payment,” Mr Robert said.

“There is a lot of capacity in the economy. Job advertisements are at a 12-year high, so there is enormous opportunity for Australians to find work.”

The biggest gain was made in NSW, where there was a 1.8 per cent rise in the number of workers, followed by Queensland (1.2 per cent), Victoria (0.9), SA (0.8), Tasmania (0.7) and WA (0.1).

The Northern Territory was the only area to fall with a 0.1 per cent decline in the employment rate.