Western Australia's unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points in August, despite reporting a record high number of people in work.
Western Australia's unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points in August, despite reporting a record high number of people in work.
WA’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate came in at 3.8 per cent in August, up from 3.4 per cent in July.
This was despite a 0.9 per cent increase in the number of employed people in the state, reported in seasonally adjusted terms at a record 1,565,900 – up 24,600 people from the previous month.
The contrast was attributed to strong population growth.
The state experienced the strongest population growth over the 12 months to the end of March of all the nation's jurisdictions at 2.8 per cent, or 78,000 people, in figures also released today.
"The latest employment figures show Western Australia's economy continues to lead the nation," Treasurer Rita Saffioti said.
"Two key achievements in August included employment reaching a record high of 1.57 million, which is an incredible outcome.
"And secondly, more than a quarter of a million jobs have now been created since we came to office in 2017, a statistic we are very proud of."
While employment hit record highs, population growth to close to 2.9 million people has been a point of contention for some industries. Real Estate Institute of Western Australia chief executive Cath Hart said the strength in population growth would result in continued tightness within the state's rental and sales markets.
"We can expect to see house prices and rents continue to rise, homes to sell and lease quickly and the vacancy rate to remain at near-record lows for some time yet," she said.
Ms Hart said a slowing in the building pipeline, with only 14,000 new dwellings expected this year, would continue the housing pressure in the state.
Speaking at a Business News Politics and Business breakfast this morning, Minister for Housing, Planning, Lands and Homelessness John Carey pushed medium density as a missing link in the state's housing options.
National unemployment rate flat
Nationally unemployment dipped by 3000 people, a small enough change to keep the national unemployment rate steady at 3.7 per cent despite a 65,000 increase in employed people.
ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis attributed the large increase in employment nationally to seasonal factors.
“The large increase in employment came after a small drop in July, around the school holiday period,” he said.
“Looking over the past two months, the average growth was around 32,000 people per month, which is similar to the average growth over the past year.”
Mr Jarvis noted a 0.1 per cent increase in the employment-to-population ratio, which at 64.5 per cent is touching June’s record high.
This, combined with a record high 67 per cent national participation rate, was flagged as a reflection of a tight labour market.
Hours worked fell in August, but remained 3.7 per cent higher than August 2022, and continued to outpace employment growth.
“The strength of hours worked over the past year, relative to employment growth, shows demand for labour is continuing to be met by people working more hours, to some extent,” Mr Jarvis said.
The participation rate was higher in Western Australia at 69.3 per cent, up 0.7 per cent from the previous month – behind only the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory nationally.
WA’s underemployment rate was higher than the territories at 5.9 per cent, but the only one of the states to sit below 6 per cent.
Underemployment sat at 6.6 per cent nationally in August, while the underutilisation rate combining unemployment and underemployment sat at 10.2 per cent.
“While we have seen the underutilisation rate increase over the past year, from the recent low of 9.3 per cent in October 2022 up to 10.2 per cent, it is still well below the 14 per cent in March 2020,” Mr Jarvis said.
“Before the pandemic, the last time we saw it this low was in September 2008.”
