In December Australian unemployment increased to 9.7% as overall employment dropped by 150,000
In December 2024, Australian ‘real’ unemployment increased 180,000 to 1,542,000 (up 1.1% to 9.7% of the workforce) with many fewer people in part-time employment following the Black Friday sales period in November.
The Australian workforce increased by 26,000 to a record high of 15,818,000 in December although overall employment was down 154,000 to 14,276,000 which drove a significant spike in ‘real’ unemployment.
The December 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 decreased in December driven by a fall in part-time employment:
Australian employment dropped 154,000 to 14,276,000. This decrease was driven by a fall in part-time employment, down 210,000 to 4,953,000 following the Black Friday sales period, but full-time employment increased 56,000 to 9,323,000.
- Unemployment increased in December driven by a drop in part-time employment:
In December 1,542,000 Australians were unemployed (9.7% of the workforce, up 1.1%), an increase of 180,000 from November. The increase was driven by a drop in part-time employment which led to more people looking for part-time work, up 12,000 to 801,000.
There was an even larger increase in people looking for full-time work, up 168,000 to 741,000 – the highest level of full-time unemployment since February 2021 nearly four years ago.
- Overall unemployment and under-employment jumped 1.9% to 20.3% in December – the highest rate of unemployment and under-employment since February 2021 nearly four years ago:
In addition to the unemployed, a further 1.68 million Australians (10.6% of the workforce) were under-employed, i.e. working part-time but looking for more work, up 132,000 from November – a new record high level of under-employment. In total 3.22 million Australians (20.3% of the workforce) were either unemployed or under-employed in December – the highest combined figure since August 2020.
- Comparisons with two years ago when COVID-19 restrictions ended show a rapidly increasing workforce is driving employment growth:
The workforce in December was 15,818,000 (up 26,000 from November, and up a large 866,000 from two years ago) – comprised of 14,276,000 employed Australians (down 154,000 from a month ago, but up a large 708,000 from two years ago).
ABS Comparison
Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 9.7% is clearly more than double the ABS estimate of 3.9% for November but is approaching the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 10.3%.
The latest monthly figures from the ABS indicate that the people working fewer hours in November 2024 due to illness, injury or sick leave was 475,700. Significantly, this is over 80,000 higher than the pre-pandemic average of the six years to November 2019 (391,100) – a difference of 84,600.
If this higher than pre-pandemic average of workers (84,600) who are working fewer hours due to illness, injury or sick leave is added to the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 1,520,600 we find a total of 1,605,200 people could be considered unemployed or under-employed, equivalent to 10.6% of the workforce.
Roy Morgan Unemployment & Under-employment (2019-2024)
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source January 2019 – December 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 December shows unemployment surging to the highest in five months as part-time employment fell significantly and more people joined the workforce without finding jobs:
“The latest Roy Morgan employment estimates for December show total Australian unemployment or under-employment increasing significantly, up 312,000 to 3,218,000 (20.3% of the workforce, up 1.9%). This is the highest rate of overall unemployment and under-employment for nearly four years since February 2021 (21.0% of the workforce) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The increase was driven by a rise in ‘real unemployment’ which increased 180,000 to 1,542,000 (9.7% of the workforce, up 1.1%) – the highest for five months since July 2024. In addition, under-employment increased by 132,000 to 1,676,000 (10.6% of the workforce, up 0.8%).
“The main driver of the rise in unemployment in December was the sharp drop in part-time employment following the end of the Black Friday sales period which fell by 210,000 to 4,953,000. This drove the number of Australians looking for part-time jobs up 12,000 to 801,000 and those looking for full-time employment up 168,000 – the highest for almost four years since February 2021.
“Looking longer-term 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 December show the Australian employment market is providing new jobs, but not at a rate to keep pace with the rapidly growing population.
“Over the two years since December 2022 the Australian population has increased by over 1.4 million – more people than live in Australia’s fifth largest city of Adelaide. The increase in population is more than double the average population growth across a two-year period over the last 25 years of 581,000.
“Since December 2022 the workforce has increased by over 860,000 and the employment level has increased by 700,000. As you can see, there is a gap there with employment increases not keeping pace with the growing workforce. That gap, of over 150,000, has led to an increase in unemployment since pandemic restrictions were ended in late 2022.
“Looking back over this period, the rapidly inflating Australian population and workforce has led to a persistently high level of labour under-utilisation. Since July 2022 total unemployed and under-employed has been stuck above 2.5 million, and more recently, over the last 18 months since May 2023 total labour under-utilisation has been stuck above 2.7 million and averaged well over 2.9 million since then.
“These figures show that as we close in on another federal election due in the next few months the Federal Government must make tackling these persistent high levels of unemployment under-employment the number one priority heading into that election.”
This Roy Morgan survey on Australia’s unemployment and ‘under-employed’* is based on weekly interviews of 922,963 Australians aged 14 and over between December 2008 and December 2024 and includes 4,502 telephone and online interviews in December 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 |
