In August Australian unemployment dropped to 9.1% due to significant increase in part-time jobs
In August 2024, Australian ‘real’ unemployment dropped 174,000 to 1,423,000 (down 1% to 9.1% of the workforce) due to a significant jump in part-time employment.
Part-time employment in August increased by 136,000 to 4,901,000, although full-time employment was virtually unchanged at 9,387,000. Overall employment for the month increased by 133,000 to 14,288,000.
The August 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).
- Overall employment increased in August driven by jump in part-time employment:
Australian employment increased 133,000 to 14,288,000. This increase was driven by a jump in part-time employment, up 136,000 to 4,901,000 while full-time employment was virtually unchanged at 9,387,000.
- Unemployment decreased in August as fewer people were looking for full-time and part-time work:
In August 1,423,000 Australians were unemployed (9.1% of the workforce, down 1%), a decrease of 174,000 from July. The decrease was driven by fewer people looking for both full-time work, down 105,000 to 552,000, and fewer people looking for part-time work, down 69,000 to 871,000.
- Overall unemployment and under-employment dropped 1.2% points to 18.6% in August:
In addition to the unemployed, a further 1.5 million Australians (9.5% of the workforce) were under-employed, i.e. working part-time but looking for more work, down 38,000 from July. In total 2.92 million Australians (18.6% of the workforce, down 1.2%) were either unemployed or under-employed in August.
- Comparisons with a year ago show rapidly increasing workforce is driving employment growth:
The workforce in August was 15,711,000 (down 41,000 from July, but up 377,000 from a year ago) – comprised of 14,288,000 employed Australians (up 133,000 from a month ago and up 640,000 from a year ago) and 1,423,000 unemployed Australians looking for work (down 174,000 from a month ago and down 263,000 from a year ago).
ABS Comparison
Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 9.1% is clearly more than double the ABS estimate of 4.2% for July but is approaching the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 10.5%.
The latest monthly figures from the ABS indicate that the people working fewer hours in July 2024 due to illness, injury or sick leave was 605,100. Significantly, this is almost 170,000 higher than the pre-pandemic average of the six years to July 2019 (438,800) – a difference of 166,300.
If this higher than pre-pandemic average of workers (166,300) is added to the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 1,596,300 we find a total of 1,762,600 people could be considered unemployed or under-employed, equivalent to 11.7% of the workforce.
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.
Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, says the latest Roy Morgan employment estimates for August show a decrease in unemployment driven by a jump in part-time employment while full-time employment remained virtually unchanged:
“The latest Roy Morgan employment estimates for August show total Australian unemployment or under-employment decreasing in August, down 212,000 to 2,920,000 (18.6% of the workforce, down 1.2%). The driver of the decrease was an increase in jobs due to rising part-time employment.
“Both unemployment and under-employment fell in August. Unemployment was down 174,000 to 1,423,000 (9.1% of the workforce, down 1%) and under-employment fell 38,000 to 1,497,000 (9.5% of the workforce, down 0.2%).
“The increase in part-time employment in August, up 136,000 to 4,901,000, drove most of the decrease in ‘Real’ unemployment which dropped by 174,000 for the month. Although there was a significant increase in part-time employment, full-time employment was virtually unchanged at 9,387,000.
“The employment trends since borders re-opened and pandemic-era restrictions ended in late 2022 has been for rapid population growth powering a sharp rise in the workforce and plenty of new jobs. These latest figures for August show that the Australian employment market is providing new jobs to most new entrants to the workforce.
“These trends continued in August with the labour force experiencing a large increase in population compared to a year ago (+684,000) – a rate clearly more than double the average annual population growth over the last 25 years of 293,000.
“This population increase has been the driver of a growing workforce, up by 377,000 to a near-record high of over 15.7 million in August 2024. In turn, the increasing workforce has led to a large rise in employment, up 640,000 to almost 14.3 million.
“The good news is that with more jobs being created than the increase in the size of the workforce, ‘Real’ unemployment is down on a year ago by 263,000 to 1,423,000 (9.1% of the workforce, down 1.9%). Overall unemployment and under-employment is also down from a year ago by 100,000 to 2,920,000 (18.6% of the workforce, down 1.5%).
“However, although the trend is in the right direction, 2.92 million unemployment and under-employed Australians (18.6% of the workforce) still represents a very high level of labour under-utilisation – over 1-in-6 Australians in the workforce.
“For over two years since July 2022 total Australian labour under-utilisation has been above 2.5 million shows that although the labour market is providing jobs, there are still millions of Australians looking for work or looking for more work. Tackling the persistent high level of unemployment and under-employment must be the number one priority for the Federal Government which is soon facing an election.”
This Roy Morgan survey on Australia’s unemployment and ‘under-employed’* is based on weekly interviews of 1,000,166 Australians aged 14 and over between January 2007 and August 2024 and includes 5,999 telephone and online interviews in August 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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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
