A study on the labour force has released statistics that show Australia has recorded the lowest unemployment rate since 1974. As per the numbers, full-time employment climbed by 92,400, and part-time jobs declined by 88,400 during April. 

The key jobless pointer had dropped to 3.9% last month when 4000 jobs were added, leading to the lowest measure in 48 years.

4000 jobs, in a month disrupted by Easter, was a far cry from the 20-30,000 jobs predicted by economists which would drop the jobless rate to 3.8%

For the uninitiated, under-employment – the term used to describe those with jobs who are seeking additional hours of work – fell from 6.3% to 6.1%.

The participation rate – a measure of working age people that are currently in the workforce or actively seeking jobs dropped 0.1% to 66.3%.

The Australian Bureau of statistics has mentioned that though COVID cases have still affected the workforce, 7,40,000 people have still worked reduced hours in April, giving the impression that people are willing to work under physical duress for the sake of livelihood and fathom unemployment to be a bigger personal evil than illness.

Globally, it’s not uncommon to see declining unemployment rates. The UK, US and NZ have jobless rates in the 3% range.  

With the Australian federal elections on its way, all the eyes will on the incumbents on how they utilise this good news as a stepping stone to oversee and solve more issues faced by the country.