The Unemployment Rate in Australia Hits a 12 Year High

Economic experts expected the unemployment rates to stay at 6% or below this July, but instead they increase to 6.25%, allowing the United States to shine brighter for the first time since 2006. Though many business leaders in America believe its unemployment rate to be a sham because the federal agency does not count people who stopped looking for work and those that are underemployed.

Economic experts expected the unemployment rates to stay at 6% or below this July, but instead they increase to 6.25%, allowing the United States to shine brighter for the first time since 2006. Though many business leaders in America believe its unemployment rate to be a sham because the federal agency does not count people who stopped looking for work and those that are underemployed. Moreover, between May and July, the unemployment rate has rose from 6 to 6.4% in Australia, and the number of employed people in total dropped by 300 according to the Australian statistical bureau.

Although the bureau suggested that the number of full time jobs have risen in July by 14,500, part-time positions have dropped by 14,800. The announcement about these new unemployment revelations has sent the Australian dollar rate tumbling downwards at a rapid pace.

Unemployment and the central bank

For a year now, the central bank provided interest rates at a record low of only 2.5% to help assist the economy after the mining slowdown. Up until now, this policy approach has seen a limited amount of success, and the government has been forced to announce various budget spending cuts, alongside new taxes being introduced this may, ruining consumer confidence in the second quarter.

The impact of unemployment

As the unemployment rate surged to a twelve-year high, the nation’s economy struggled to gain traction after a mining investment boom, prompting speculation that the central bank may be forced to cut interest rates even further. Experts have suggested that the unemployment rate has been carefully climbing higher over the recent years, as China’s demand for Australian minerals and energy began to reduce, forcing mining companies to scale back.

Job creation at this time is simply unable to keep up with a strong growth of population. This July, an additional 43,000 people were reported to have entered the workforce, which is a huge boost from the already healthy 35,000 rise in June. In non-resource sectors of the economy, such as finance, hospitality, and construction job growth was not strong enough to take on the extra bodies.

The search for work

Some of the rise in unemployment has been accredited to changes made at the ABS, which created a new definition of employment, and some experts suggest that there may be some positive notes to find within the job numbers that have been shown, with a shift towards more full-time unemployment.

At this point in time, it is estimated that more of the workforce is actively looking for work, which could be helping to increase the jobless rate, but also serves to suggest that people are being encouraged into work by job advertisements.

Although the levels of unemployment in Australia are currently quite worrying, the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggest that the economy may not be as bad as people think, showing a total of 11,576,600 people employed, which is only 300 less than the all-time record posted in June of 11,576,900. Though the data is disappointing, experts suggest that Australia may still have a chance to rise from the economic ashes with new jobs.