WA jobless rate up to 3.9pc

Western Australia’s unemployment rate went up 0.2 percentage points in December 2023, sitting at 3.9 per cent.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics today released its Labour Force data for December, reporting a 3.9 per cent unemployment rate nationally.

In WA, the unemployment rate is recorded at 3.8 per cent or 3.9 per cent when seasonally adjusted, according to the ABS.

It comes after the ABS’ November data shows a 3.7 per cent unemployment rate in the state.

The recent data shows 1,587,600 people in WA were employed in December, 6,600 fewer than what was recorded in November.

ABS labour statistics head David Taylor said the country’s unemployment rate remained steady at 3.9 per cent in December but the number of jobs fell by 65,000 people.

"The fall in employment in December followed larger than usual employment growth in October and November, a combined increase of 117,000 people, with the employment-to-population ratio and participation rate both at record highs in November,” he said.

“The employment-to-population ratio also fell, down 0.4 percentage points to 64.2 per cent.

“This was the lowest employment-to-population ratio since May 2022, but still 1.9 percentage points higher than March 2020.”

In WA, the ABS data shows a 66.7 per cent employment-to-population ratio in December compared to the 67.2 per cent reported in November.

Mr Taylor said while the December employment data shows a large fall, the number of employed people was still 52,000 higher than September.

“Looking over the past twelve months, seasonally adjusted employment increased by an average of 32,000 people per month, showing reasonably strong underlying growth during 2023,” he said.

"Both the unemployment and underemployment rates remained relatively low and the participation rate and employment-to-population ratio relatively high, suggesting that the labour market remains tight.”