17 Nov Unemployment Update – June 2020
REMPLAN Economy and Community profiles have now been updated with the latest area-specific unemployment rate data (June quarter 2020). This data was recently released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the National Skills Commission (NSC).
For the June 2020 update the National Skills Commission notes that …
‘The COVID-19 pandemic began to have a significant impact on the Australian labour market from March, when Australia recorded its 100th COVID-19 case and the shutdown of nonessential services and trading restrictions took effect.
The June quarter 2020 estimates have begun to reflect the significant negative impact that COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, on labour market conditions throughout Australia…
It is also worth bearing in mind that the labour market’s adjustment to COVID-19 and associated government measures has only partly been reflected in these estimates. To a large extent, particularly in the early months of the pandemic, record numbers of people left the labour force, leading to a much smaller increase in the unemployment rate than otherwise would have been expected, with such a significant fall in employment that occurred immediately after March.’
The June quarter 2020 estimates show that almost two thirds (64.4 per cent) of small areas recorded an increase in their unemployment rate over the quarter. The data also shows that 53.6 per cent of areas recorded an unemployment rate of less than 5.0 per cent while 11.2 per cent of areas recorded an unemployment rate of 10.0 per cent or more.
At the state and territory level, the June quarter unemployment rate was highest in South Australia (7.8%) and Queensland (7.7%), followed by Western Australia (7.3%) and Victoria (6.6%). The unemployment rate was lowest in the Australian Capital Territory (4.0%).
For Australia, the unemployment rate for the June 2020 quarter was 6.9%, an increase of 1.3% from the March 2020 quarter (5.6%).
The ABS has noted:
‘In June 2020:
- employment increased by 210,800 people (1.7%) to 12,328,500 people
- over the year to June 2020, employment decreased by 4.1% or 522,300 people
Underpinning this [June 2020] net increase in the number of employed people are extensive flows of people into and out of employment. Around 600,000 people entered employment (i.e. they were employed in June but were not employed in May), while around 400,000 people left employment (i.e. they were employed in May but were not employed in June). This contrasts with the previous month, where around 500,000 people entered employment and around 700,000 people left employment.’
To view local area unemployment rate estimates, explore our regional profiles.
The example below is for Darwin, NT.
Please note: The smoothed Small Area Labour Market (SALM) series is created by applying a four-quarter average to unsmoothed SALM data, it will take a number of quarters for the impact of COVID-19 that is evident at broader levels to be reflected fully in the SALM estimates.
Unemployment levels across the economy in the June quarter reflect a jobs market underwritten by the Federal Government’s assistance programs. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that the unemployment rate would be more like 13.3% without JobKeeper and other measures.1
It is anticipated that the area-specific September quarter 2020 unemployment data will be released in December 2020.
Please contact the team at REMPLAN if you have any questions. We are also available to provide REMPLAN software training, presentations and management briefings.
Related Topics:
COVID-19 Impacts Explorer Update
JobKeeper Hotspot Analysis and Mapping
1.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-16/unemployment-jobs-coronavirus-june-2020-abs/12460890
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