Australia’s August Unemployment Drops to 9.1% with Part-Time Job Surge

In August 2024, Australia’s ‘real’ unemployment rate decreased by 1%, dropping to 9.1% of the workforce, following a significant rise in part-time employment. The unemployment count fell by 174,000 to 1,423,000. This reduction was driven by an increase of 136,000 part-time jobs, bringing total part-time employment to 4,901,000, while full-time employment remained steady at 9,387,000.

Overall employment rose by 133,000 to 14,288,000 in August, reflecting growth in part-time jobs. Fewer Australians were looking for both full-time and part-time work, contributing to the decline in unemployment.

Roy Morgan Unemployment & Under-employment (2019-2024)
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source January 2019 – August 2024. Average monthly interviews 5,000.
Note: Roy Morgan unemployment estimates are actual data while the ABS estimates are seasonally adjusted.

Labour Market Trends

Roy Morgan’s unemployment estimates, based on a national survey of Australians aged 14 and above, classified anyone seeking work as unemployed. The ‘real’ unemployment rate is calculated as a percentage of the total workforce, both employed and unemployed.

Despite the improvement in employment figures, the combined unemployment and under-employment rate still stands at 18.6%, affecting 2.92 million Australians. The under-employed, those working part-time but seeking more work, represented 9.5% of the workforce.

Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan, highlighted that the surge in part-time jobs drove the drop in unemployment, while the rapidly growing workforce—up by 377,000 over the past year—has been a key factor in the country’s employment growth.

The ABS comparison puts Roy Morgan’s 9.1% unemployment figure well above the ABS estimate of 4.2% for July. However, when combined with under-employment, the ABS figure reaches a comparable 10.5%.

Roy Morgan Unemployed and ‘Under-employed’* Estimates

Impact and Challenges

While the job market has made strides in absorbing the growing workforce, the high level of labour under-utilisation remains a challenge. Addressing the persistent issue of unemployment and under-employment will continue to be a priority for the Australian government.

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