Australian unemployment virtually unchanged in February; but the workforce continues to surge – up by over 600,000 from a year ago

In February 2024 Australian ‘real’ unemployment was virtually unchanged at 1,436,000 (9.2% of the workforce) and an additional 1,501,000 (9.6%) were under-employed. In total a massive 2.94 million Australians (18.8%) were unemployed or under-employed in February.

Although unemployment and under-employment remain high, there has been a surge in employment over the last year – up by 711,000 to 14,228,000 – the first month total employment has exceeded 14.2 million.

The February Roy Morgan Unemployment estimates were obtained by surveying an Australia-wide cross section of people aged 14+. A person is classified as unemployed if they are looking for work, no matter when. The ‘real’ unemployment rate is presented as a percentage of the workforce (employed & unemployed).

• Employment reaches new record high at over 14.2 million in February:

Australian employment increased 78,000 to 14,228,000 in February. Full-time employment drove the increase, up 154,000 to a new record high of 9,359,000 while part-time employment dropped 76,000 to 4,869,000.

• Unemployment increased in February with 54,000 more looking for work:

In February 1,436,000 Australians were unemployed (9.2% of the workforce), an increase of 54,000 from January. There were 833,000 (down 44,000) looking for part-time work and 603,000 (up 98,000) now looking for full-time work.

• The workforce increased by over 600,000 from a year ago to over 15.6 million people:

The workforce in February was 15,664,000 (up 132,000 from January, and up a massive 626,000 from a year ago) – comprised of 14,228,000 employed Australians (up 78,000 from a month ago) and 1,436,000 unemployed Australians looking for work (up 54,000).

• Overall unemployment and under-employment down 0.5% points in February to 18.8%:

In addition to the unemployed, a further 1.5 million Australians (9.6% of the workforce) were under-employed, i.e. working part-time but looking for more work, down 117,000 from January. In total 2.94 million Australians (18.8% of the workforce) were either unemployed or under-employed in February.

Compared to early March 2020, before the nation-wide lockdown, in February 2024 there were almost 800,000 more Australians either unemployed or under-employed (+3.2% points) even though overall employment (14,228,000) is over 1.3 million higher than it was pre-COVID-19 (12,872,000).

ABS Comparison

Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 9.2% is more than double the ABS estimate of 4.1% for January but is approaching the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 10.7%.

The latest monthly figures from the ABS indicate that the people working fewer hours in January 2024 due to illness, injury or sick leave was 316,600. This is around 57,000 higher than the pre-pandemic average of the six years to January 2020 (260,000) – a difference of 56,600.

If this higher than pre-pandemic average of workers (56,600) is added to the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 1,585,000 we find a total of 1,641,400 people could be considered unemployed or under-employed, equivalent to 11.1% of the workforce.

Roy Morgan Unemployment & Under-employment (2019-2024)

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source January 2019 – February 2024. Average monthly interviews 5,000.
Note: Roy Morgan unemployment estimates are actual data while the ABS estimates are seasonally adjusted.

Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, says total Australian unemployment or under-employment dropped in February but has now averaged 3 million (19.4% of the workforce) for the last six months, up from 2.83 million (18.7%) for the previous six months:

This Roy Morgan survey on Australia’s unemployment and ‘under-employed’* is based on weekly interviews of 961,094 Australians aged 14 and over between January 2007 and February 2024 and includes 5,982 telephone and online interviews in February 2024. *The ‘under-employed’ are those people who are in part-time work or freelancers who are looking for more work.

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