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Economics update | November 18, 2022
18 Nov 2022
Unemployment rate fell to 3.4 per cent in October
The labour market remained largely unchanged in October, with only modest improvement in key indicators. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 3.4 per cent in October, down 0.1 per cent from September and matching lowest recorded rate of unemployment documented in July. This was facilitated by a 32,000 increase in employment and 21,000 decrease in unemployment. The underemployment rate dropped by 0.1 per cent to 5.9 per cent, whilst the underutilisation rate dropped by 0.2 per cent to 9.3 per cent.
In line with relatively small changes to employment and unemployment, the seasonally adjusted participation rate remained steady at 66.5 per cent for the second consecutive month and just below the historic high of 66.7 per cent recorded in June. The participation rate for men dropped slightly to 70.9 per cent whilst for women it stayed at 62.3 per cent.
Monthly hours worked increased by 2.3 per cent for an additional 2.7 million hours. This growth is reflected by 0.2 per cent growth in employment and fewer than usual employed people taking annual leave during October.
Evident by these numbers, the tightness in the labour market will continue to make it difficult for business to fill job vacancies and constrain business activity.
Wage Price Index rose to 3.1 per cent over the year
In the September quarter, the seasonally adjusted WPI rose 1 per cent for the quarter and 3.1 per cent over the year. This is the fastest quarterly rise in nearly a decade and is facilitated largely by the ongoing challenges in the labour market.
The private sector largely drove the increase, recording a 3.4 per cent yearly WPI increase that was weighed down by the public sectors 2.4 per cent increase. This confirms that businesses continue to offer wage increases where possible.
The retail industry recorded both the highest quarterly and annual growth of 2.4 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively. The quarterly increases in the health care and social assistance (1.5 per cent) and professional, scientific and technical services (1.7 per cent) were main contributors to the WPI growth due to the size of these industries.
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