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More than one million Australians out of work

Author
Newstalk ZB / news.com.au,
Publish Date
Fri, 14 Aug 2020, 3:18PM
Photo / File
Photo / File

More than one million Australians out of work

Author
Newstalk ZB / news.com.au,
Publish Date
Fri, 14 Aug 2020, 3:18PM

In a first for the nation, more than one million Australians were out of work, available to work and actively looking for work last month.

Labour force figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released Thursday showed Australia’s jobless rate had increased just under 0.1 per cent from June to 7.5 per cent.

Economists had predicted it would be close to 8 per cent, while the effective unemployment rate stands at 9.9 per cent.

“For the first time there were more than one million people out of work, available to work and actively looking for work,” ABS spokesman Bjorn Jarvis said.

“The number of unemployed people rose by nearly 16,000 between June and July.”

In July 1,009,400 Australians were jobless, compared to 993,700 people in June.

Australia’s effective unemployment rate – which takes into account not only people who are officially unemployed but those who have left the labour force altogether or are on zero hours – dropped 1.3 per cent from 11.2 per cent in June.

However, employment increased with 114,700 jobs added between June and July 2020.

Full-time employment rose by 43,500 people and part-time employment by 71,200 people.

The largest increases in employment were recorded in New South Wales with 56,800 people now in work.

Seasonally adjusted figures show 308,600 people in NSW were jobless in July.

Almost 23,000 people in Victoria also got a job before stage four restrictions hit, and a further 19,100 people were employed in Western Australia.

Small decreases were seen in Queensland where 3700 more people found themselves out of work, and in the Northern Territory where 500 people were affected compared to June.

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