This week saw the release of two significant figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics; the Wage Price Index for the March quarter yesterday and the Labour Force figure for April today.
Beginning with the labour force figures for April, South Australia’s unemployment rate declined by 0.7 percentage points to 4.5%. Nationally, we saw the unemployment revised for March to 3.9 per cent. It remained in April, the lowest it has been since August 1974. This comes as no surprise for those in business, with many expecting unemployment to reach below 4 per cent.
Unfortunately, South Australia continues to lag, with unemployment sitting equal last with Queensland. Our result included declines in total employment and the participation rate. The Queensland result is due to the impact of the recent floods.
With employment falling by 5,000 or 0.6 per cent and participation declining 0.7 percentage points to 62.8 per cent. In contrast, Australia’s participation saw a slight decline of 0.1 percentage points to 66.3 points.
The only upside was a slight decrease in the underemployment rate from 7.7 to 7.6 per cent. The decrease in this figure means that fewer workers wanted to work more hours in April.
What does this mean? From the South Australian Business Chamber’s perspective (based on our member’s feedback), the workers currently available in the market do not have the skills that businesses needs.
The other figures released this week include the Wage Price Index for the March quarter of 2022. The seasonally adjusted figure rose 0.7 per cent for the quarter and 2.4 per cent over the year. With such a tight labour market, many expected yesterday’s rise to be slightly more significant. However, we continue to see growth in the annual rate, highlighting the stickiness of wages. With the outcomes of the Fair Work Commission’s annual review of the minimum wage case expected in June, we could see a significant rise in the September numbers.
Jordan Smith, Policy Advisor, South Australian Business Chamber
