Roy Morgan Update September 16, 2025: Migration, Consumer Confidence, Unemployment and Homosexuality

In this week's Market Research Update, we present the latest data on Migration, Consumer Confidence, Unemployment & Homosexuality.

Welcome to the Roy Morgan Weekly update.

The weekly indicators went in the wrong direction this week, ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence dropped 3.4 points to 85.9.

Driving the fall was less confidence about personal finances over the next 12 months.

And ANZ-Roy Morgan Inflation Expectations increased 0.2% to 4.9%, and in line with its average over the last three months.

Now to employment and unemployment – the measure that really matters – and the news is not good for August.

‘Real Unemployment’ surged in August, up 0.8% to 11.1%, - so, an estimated 1.78 million Australians are unemployed – looking for work. The main driver of the increase was a drop in overall employment – down by 70,000 to around 14.2 million.

Part-time employment fell by over 100,000 to just under 5 million while full-time employment increased slightly, up by 35,000 to just over 9.2 million.

In August, under-employment – people wanting to work more hours – was unchanged at 1.74 million. Concerningly, this is the first time both unemployment and under-employment have been above 1.7 million in the same month.

Total unemployment and under-employment – what we might call workforce under-utilisation – was up 0.8% to 22% of the workforce in August – an estimated 3.52 million people – and the highest monthly figure since early in the pandemic.

This is the ninth straight month – stretching back to late last year – that total unemployment and under-employment has been above 3 million.

Now for some in-depth historical analysis of the Roy Morgan trove of data on social issues in Australia, to shed some light on the changes we are all seeing and experiencing.

‘Homosexuality is immoral according to 21% of Australians.

Roy Morgan’s latest analysis into views on homosexuality shows two decades of declining homophobic views – no surprises there – however, there has been a recent reversal in views.

Since 2000, Roy Morgan has been monitoring Australian views on homosexuality, asking approximately 1,000 Australians each week (50,000 each year) whether they agree or disagree with the statement ‘I believe homosexuality is immoral’.

In 2001, 36% of Australians believed 'Homosexuality is immoral,’ compared to 21% today, a decrease of 15% points over the past quarter century.

The data shows a steady decline for two decades: falling below 30% for the first time in 2009, and then down to 18% by 2017 at the time of the same sex marriage plebiscite.

However, over the last five years since June 2020, the downward trend has stalled, and the belief that ‘Homosexuality is immoral’ has edged back up to 21% by 2025, marking the first sustained increase in over two decades.

New Roy Morgan analysis of a decade of research into the issue of immigration shows almost one-in-seven Australian electors now say that ‘managing immigration and population growth’ is an important issue (13%) – a figure that has more than doubled since the end of the pandemic but is still lower than pre-pandemic.

Over the last decade from July 2016 to June 2025 Roy Morgan interviewed a representative cross-section of 456,069 Australian Electors aged 18+ and asked: ‘Which three issues are the most important to you?’

The long-term trend since 2016 shows the issue of immigration reached a high of 16% in 2019 before declining during COVID to only 6% in June 2023.

Since then, the importance of immigration has surged as an issue and, as immigration to Australia increased, is up 7% to 13%.

The high importance Australians placed on ‘managing immigration and population growth’ before the pandemic, followed a 35% lift in net overseas migration to Australia between 2015 and 2018, and a significant increase in allegations of fraud with higher education colleges and institutions involving foreign nationals during these years.

Today the issue is more about housing and infrastructure resources, cost-of-living, and associated concerns about crime.

Recently, the voting trends of immigrants to Australia – and especially Indian Australians – has been in the national spotlight recently with controversial comments made by Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

Last week, Senator Nampijinpa Price claimed ‘a recent Redbridge poll told us that 85% of those who have Indian ancestry … voted for Labor (on a two-party preferred basis)’.

However, Roy Morgan’s in-depth analysis, based on electors born in India, shows that while Labor does lead the Liberal-National Coalition among Indian Australians, the figure of 85% is clearly inaccurate.

Among Indian-born Australians, 45% support the ALP, compared to 39% for the Coalition and 8% for the Greens. A gap between the two major parties of only 6% points. This compares to a 3% gap for electors at the last election.

Combined support for the two major parties (84%) is far higher than the result at the recent Federal Election (66.4%) -i.e., Indian-born Australians are much less likely to vote for minor parties and Independents.

Among Chinese-born Australians, 48% support the ALP, compared to 34% for the Coalition – a gap of 14% points, so far more favourable to the ALP than the Federal Election.

If you want to learn more about the voting habits of Indian-born and Chinese-born immigrants – there’s more detail on the Roy Morgan website – including the levels of support among different age groups.

And finally, Roy Morgan’s Annual Trusted Brand Awards were held last Wednesday.

The Trusted Brand Awards recognised 22 winning brands across a range of industries for their high levels of trust.

An impressive 16 of this year’s winners built on their win a year ago to go back-to-back as the most Trusted Brands in their respective categories.

Notable winners this year included Aldi, Kmart, Apple, Toyota, Commonwealth Bank, Bunnings, Australia Post, NRMA and Samsung – all among Australia’s Top 20 Most Trusted Brands.

And overall – for a second straight year – Bunnings has been awarded as ‘Best of the Best’ – today Bunnings is Australia’s Most Trusted Brand.

And in the highly contested Agribusiness Trust Awards for which Roy Morgan interviews thousands of farmers on the brands they trust and distrust – Nutrien Ag Solutions has been rewarded as Australia’s most Trusted Agribusiness Brand for the first time.

Thanks for your interest in our latest results. For more detail on the topics covered in this video – including the winners of all categories in the Annual Trusted Brand awards – head to the Roy Morgan website.