Has the Employment Market Shock from COVID-19 Ended? Australia's Unemployment Rate Declines for 6 Consecutive Months

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Australia's unemployment rate in March recorded 5.6%, showing a decline for six consecutive months.

According to ABC and other broadcasts, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) announced that last month's unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points from the previous month to 5.6%. The number of unemployed people decreased by 27,100 last month, and new jobs increased by 70,700.

Bruson Jarvis, Director of the ABS Labour Statistics Bureau, said, "Compared to March 2020, the female employment rate increased by 0.5 percentage points to 58.5%, while the male employment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 66.8%, resulting in an increase in total working hours for the first time since the pandemic."

Within Australia, there is analysis suggesting that the employment market impact from COVID-19 may have completely disappeared. However, as the Australian government's employment support payment system, which was provided to prevent mass unemployment due to COVID-19, ended at the end of last month, there are also expectations that 150,000 jobs maintained by this support will disappear.

Director Jarvis stated, "When next month's employment data is released, we will be able to confirm the status of the labor market after the end of the employment support payments."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.