Australia’s unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 ppt to 4.0% in December, in line with expectations. The total number of employed Australians increased 56,300, and the number of unemployed increased 10,300. The participation rate also increased, up 0.2 ppts to 67.1%.

Despite some cooling in headline employment numbers, the underemployment rate ticked down -0.1 ppts to 6.1%, and total monthly hours worked increased 0.5% MoM and 3.2% YoY. The annual increase in hours worked is the fastest since August 2023.