The Australian economy added 58,000 new jobs in July, beating estimates of a 20,000 increase.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force data also shows unemployment ticked up to 4.2 per cent from 4.1 per cent.
The number of unemployed grew by 24,000 people and employed by about 58,000, ABS head of labour statistics Kate Lamb said, with the participation rate lifting to 67.1 per cent.
“The employment-to-population ratio rose by 0.1 percentage point to 64.3 per cent, indicating employment growth was faster than population growth and was just below the historical high of 64.4 per cent in November 2023,” she said.
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“Although the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point in each of the past two months, the record high participation rate and near record high employment-to-population ratio shows that there continues to be a high number of people in jobs and looking for and finding jobs.
“While unemployment increased to 637,000 people in July, the highest it has been since November 2021, it remains around 70,000 people below its pre-pandemic level.”
More to come