Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth says the number of Australains employed is at a record high. Photo: ALP.
Australia’s unemployment rate has fallen to 4.3 per cent, with seasonally adjusted figures showing the number of unemployed people dropped by 17,000 in October while the number of employed people rose by 42,000 to a high of 14,683,200.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its latest labour force participation data on Thursday (13 November), showing full-time employment rose by 55,000.
The number of females in full-time employment rose by 29,000, while the number of males rose by 26,000.
Rising full-time employment contrasted with a fall in part-time employment of 13,000 people.
ABS head of labour statistics Sean Crick said more unemployed people moved into employment compared to a typical October.
“The unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 per cent after rising to 4.5 per cent in September,” he said.
“The October unemployment rate is in line with June, July, and August 2025.”
The fall in part-time employment was driven by the female workforce, with female part-time employment falling by 21,000.
Males partly offset this fall, with an 8000 person rise in part-time employment.
The participation rate remained steady at 67.0 per cent in October.
It’s all good news to the Federal Government, happy to take the credit and saying 1.2 million jobs have been created since Labor came to office in 2022.
In line with the strong increase in full-time employment, the underemployment rate fell to 5.7 per cent in October.
Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth said that was the equal lowest rate in more than three decades.
“More jobs and higher wages are one of the best ways we can support Australians,” she said.
“Since our government came into office we have created 1.2 million jobs.
“Employment has increased by 8.9 per cent over this period – a higher rate than any other major advanced economy over the same period.
“More Australians are in work than ever before and they are earning more and keeping more of what they earn.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the nation had made good progress on the economy despite difficult global circumstances.
He described the figures as a “very positive result” Australians have made together.
“We’re one of few countries around the world that have been able to keep people in jobs in the face of extreme global uncertainty, and that’s what this data shows,” the Treasurer said.
“We’ve overseen the lowest average unemployment of any government in the past 50 years.
“While we’ve made good progress on the economy together, we recognise people are still under pressure, which is why we’re continuing to roll out responsible cost of living relief including tax cuts for every taxpayer, slashing student debt, cheaper medicines and more bulk billing.
“We know the best way to improve living standards is to make our economy more productive and resilient and our budget more sustainable and that’s our focus.”
The underemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 5.7 per cent in October.
This was 0.5 percentage points lower than October 2024, and 3.0 percentage points lower than March 2020.
The ABS data also show the underutilisation rate, which combines the unemployment and underemployment rates, fell by 0.3 percentage points to 10.0 per cent.
This was 0.3 percentage points lower than October 2024, and 3.9 percentage points lower than March 2020.
“Trend employment grew by around 27,000 people, or 0.2 per cent from September to October, and 1.5 per cent in the last 12 months,” Mr Crick said.
“Monthly hours worked rose by 0.1 per cent, which was slightly lower than the 0.2 per cent rise in employment.
“Annual growth in hours worked in October was at 1.4 per cent, also slightly lower than the 1.5 per cent rise in employment over the last 12 months.”
In trend terms, the participation rate rose marginally to 67.0 per cent in October, while the employment-to-population ratio stayed at 64.0 per cent.
The underemployment rate remained at 5.8 per cent, and the underutilisation rate was steady at 10.1 per cent.
