Unemployment has fallen to the lowest level since 2013 in Western Australia, with employment of women well above pre-COVID levels.
Unemployment has fallen to the lowest level since 2013 in Western Australia, with employment of women well above pre-COVID levels.
About 4.7 per cent of WA’s labour force was jobless in May, seasonally adjusted, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
That’s down from the pandemic peak of 8.5 per cent in June last year.
The number of women employed was 653,000, about 12,000 higher than in February 2020, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns hitting economies around the world.
Jobs for men were slightly down compared to February 2020, about 3,900 lower at 738,700 people, seasonally adjusted.
It comes after federal government job vacancy data showing job vacancies in WA up 64 per cent since prior to COVID-19.
Community workers, sales workers and labourers had the biggest rises in vacancies in that time.
Job openings in the South West were up 80 per cent.
There’s a similar trend across other parts of the world as global economies recover from the pandemic.
In the United States, unfilled job vacancies passed a record 8 million in March, with the US Chamber of Commerce reportedly claiming a worker shortage in that country a crisis.
National
Nationally, unemployment was down to 5.1 per cent.
HSBC said Australia had absorbed the end of the JobKeeper scheme without losing momentum.
“Employment increased by 115,000 in May (market expected 30,000), after falling by 31,000 in April,” the bank said.
“Annual employment growth stands at 8.1 per cent.
“The change in employment was driven by both full-time and part-time employment, which increased by 97,500 and 17,700, respectively.
“Although the April figures showed a decline in employment, partly due to the Easter holiday period, it was not until the May figures that we were set to see the full impact of the end of the federal government's wage subsidy scheme.
“As it turned out, the May numbers were very strong.
“Indeed, the monthly employment figures for May were much stronger than the more-timely experimental bi-weekly figures implied was likely, which may partly explain the market forecast surprise.”
AAP
BIS Oxford Economics senior economist Sean Langcake said the labour market has weathered the withdrawal of the JobKeeper wage subsidy in March very well.
"There are no signs of lingering effects in today's data," he said.
He said with the labour market remaining well ahead of the RBA's expectations, wage pressures are likely to emerge sooner than it expects.
"We expect the RBA will need to bring forward their plans for a rate hike into 2023," he said.
Australian Bureau of Statistics head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said the number of unemployed people has fallen by around 303,000 since the peak of one million in July 2020.
"The declining unemployment rate continues to align with the strong increases in job vacancie s," he said.
Speaking before the release o f the jobs figures, RBA governor Philip Lowe said while some businesses are finding it hard to hire workers, wage increases have been modest.
In his first public appearance since March, Dr Lowe told an audience in Toowoomba that while the labour market was tightening, wages growth and inflation remains subdued.
"It is noteworthy that even in those pockets where firms are finding it hardest to hire workers, wage increases are mostly modest," Dr Lowe told the Australian Farm Institute conference.
"There are some exceptions to this, but they are fairly isolated."
The RBA wants to see inflation sustainably within the two to three per cent target before it considers raising the cash rate from its record low 0.1 per cent.
This, it says, will need wage growth to double from its current low rate of 1.5 per cent and the unemployment rate substantially lower - at least with a four in front, and possibly a three - events it does not expect until 2024 at t he earliest.
Dr Lowe said he expected the consumer price index to spike to about 3.5 per cent in the June quarter due to the unwinding of some pandemic-related price reductions.
"There have also been price increases for some items due to pandemic-related interruptions to supply. But beyond this, inflation pressures remain subdued and are likely to remain so," Dr Lowe said.
