Unemployment and underemployment fall as COVID recovery continues

Both unemployment and underemployment have continued their downward trends in further positive signs that Australia’s economy is bouncing back quickly from COVID-19.

The official jobless rate dipped again from 6.6 per cent in December to 6.4 per cent in January, with the ABS estimating that 29,100 extra people were employed last month.

In even better news, those jobs were driven by a 59,000-strong increase in full-time positions, while part-time work declined.

This did not translate into hours worked, however, which dropped 4.9 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis.

But the ABS has attributed this to a larger-than-usual proportion of Australians taking annual leave in January given the harsher travel restrictions in place for much of…