SYDNEY- Australian employment dived in August as coronavirus lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne forced businesses to lay off workers and slash hours, while the jobless rate was nudged lower by a sharp fall in the number of people looking for work.
Thursday’s data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed employment fell by 146,000 in August, compared to median forecasts of a drop of 90,000.
The unemployment rate dipped to 4.5 percent, having already fallen to 4.6 percent in July when lockdowns also distorted the data.
The ABS cautioned that the dip in the jobless rate was due to people dropping out of the labor force given how difficult it was to look for work while in lockdown. Only people actively looking for work are counted as unemployed.
“The fall in the unemployment rate reflects a large fall in participation during the recent lockdowns, rather than a strengthening in labor market conditions,” said Bjorn Jarvis, head of labor statistics at the ABS. – Reuters
