The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased slightly to 4.1 per cent in March, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said: ‘With employment increasing by 32,000 people and the number of unemployed increasing by 3,000 people, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.1 per cent for March.’
Employment has grown by 308,000 people, or 2.2 per cent, over the last 12 months. This annual growth rate is slightly higher than the 20-year pre-pandemic average of 2.0 per cent.
‘The employment-to-population ratio remained at 64.1 per cent in March, while the participation rate increased slightly to 66.8 per cent,’ Mr Crick said.
Monthly hours worked decreased by 0.3 per cent, falling for the second month in a row, despite the growth in employment this month.
‘A higher than usual number of people reported working reduced hours this month due to bad weather, coinciding with ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred and other major weather events in New South Wales and Queensland,’ Mr Crick said.
| Employed (Index) | Hours (Index) | |
|---|---|---|
| Mar-20 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Apr-20 | 95.5 | 89.8 |
| May-20 | 93.2 | 90.6 |
| Jun-20 | 95.0 | 94.1 |
| Jul-20 | 96.0 | 95.2 |
| Aug-20 | 97.1 | 95.5 |
| Sep-20 | 96.8 | 95.4 |
| Oct-20 | 97.9 | 96.7 |
| Nov-20 | 98.6 | 99.2 |
| Dec-20 | 99.0 | 98.9 |
| Jan-21 | 99.3 | 98.1 |
| Feb-21 | 99.7 | 99.2 |
| Mar-21 | 100.2 | 101.9 |
| Apr-21 | 100.2 | 100.3 |
| May-21 | 100.8 | 102.2 |
| Jun-21 | 101.0 | 100.5 |
| Jul-21 | 101.1 | 100.5 |
| Aug-21 | 100.1 | 96.5 |
| Sep-21 | 99.2 | 97.7 |
| Oct-21 | 98.8 | 97.7 |
| Nov-21 | 101.7 | 101.5 |
| Dec-21 | 102.3 | 103.4 |
| Jan-22 | 102.8 | 98.7 |
| Feb-22 | 103.3 | 102.8 |
| Mar-22 | 103.6 | 102.8 |
| Apr-22 | 104.0 | 103.3 |
| May-22 | 104.3 | 104.8 |
| Jun-22 | 105.1 | 105.1 |
| Jul-22 | 105.0 | 104.9 |
| Aug-22 | 105.6 | 106.0 |
| Sep-22 | 105.7 | 106.2 |
| Oct-22 | 106.0 | 107.7 |
| Nov-22 | 106.5 | 107.8 |
| Dec-22 | 106.4 | 107.8 |
| Jan-23 | 106.6 | 108.8 |
| Feb-23 | 106.9 | 108.9 |
| Mar-23 | 107.8 | 109.6 |
| Apr-23 | 107.7 | 112.0 |
| May-23 | 108.3 | 110.0 |
| Jun-23 | 108.5 | 110.1 |
| Jul-23 | 108.4 | 110.2 |
| Aug-23 | 109.0 | 109.4 |
| Sep-23 | 108.9 | 109.0 |
| Oct-23 | 109.4 | 109.0 |
| Nov-23 | 109.8 | 108.9 |
| Dec-23 | 109.2 | 108.5 |
| Jan-24 | 109.2 | 108.7 |
| Feb-24 | 110.1 | 109.3 |
| Mar-24 | 110.1 | 110.8 |
| Apr-24 | 110.3 | 110.3 |
| May-24 | 110.5 | 109.9 |
| Jun-24 | 110.8 | 110.0 |
| Jul-24 | 111.1 | 110.4 |
| Aug-24 | 111.4 | 110.8 |
| Sep-24 | 111.7 | 111.0 |
| Oct-24 | 111.8 | 111.1 |
| Nov-24 | 112.0 | 111.6 |
| Dec-24 | 112.4 | 112.2 |
| Jan-25 | 112.7 | 112.3 |
| Feb-25 | 112.2 | 111.9 |
| Mar-25 | 112.5 | 111.6 |
Source: Labour Force, Australia Tables 1 and 19
Underemployment and underutilisation
The underemployment rate remained at 5.9 per cent in March 2025. This was 0.6 percentage points lower than March 2024, and 2.8 percentage points lower than March 2020.
The underutilisation rate, which combines the unemployment and underemployment rates, remained at 9.9 per cent. This was 4.0 percentage points lower than March 2020.
Underlying trend data
The trend unemployment rate remained at 4.0 per cent in March. It has been within a relatively narrow range of 3.9 and 4.1 per cent for the past 16 months.
Employment grew by around 14,000 people (0.1 per cent) in March, and 2.3 percent over the last 12 months.
Monthly hours worked remained steady in March.
‘In trend terms, the employment-to-population ratio remained at 64.2 per cent in March, while the participation rate fell by 0.1 percentage point to 66.9 per cent,’ Mr Crick said.
The underemployment rate remained steady at 5.9 per cent and the underutilisation rate fell marginally to 9.9 per cent.
More information, including regional labour market data, will be available in the upcoming March 2025 issue of Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, on Thursday 24 April 2025.
The ABS would like to thank Australians for their continued support in responding to our surveys.
Media notes
- The March survey reference period is from 2 March 2025 to 15 March 2025.
- The April survey reference period is from 30 March 2025 to 12 April 2025.
- The ABS defines pre-pandemic as March 2020 when analysing and reporting labour force statistics.
- The ABS has recently released Labour Force Survey data intoTableBuilder.Initially, data from August 2006 to July 2024 will be available, with the intention to move to more concurrent and more frequent releases of data later this year.
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