LABOR MARKET – AUSTRALIA

Australian unemployment increases in February; but under-employment drops to lowest since September 2023

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 20-Mar-24

In February 2024, Australian ‘real’ unemployment was virtually unchanged at 1,436,000 (9.2% of the workforce) and an additional 1,501,000 (9.6%) were under-employed. In total, 2.94 million Australians (18.8%) were unemployed or under-employed in February. Although unemployment and under-employment remain high, there has been a surge in employment over the last year – up by 711,000 to 14,228,000. This is the first month in which total employment has exceeded 14.2 million. Employment increased by 78,000 in February; full-time employment drove the increase (up 154,000 to a new record high of 9,359,000), while part-time employment dropped 76,000 to 4,869,000. The workforce in February was 15,664,000 (up 132,000 from January, and up 626,000 from a year ago). Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 9.2% is more than double the ABS estimate of 4.1% for January, but is approaching the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 10.7%. The February Roy Morgan Unemployment estimates were obtained by surveying an Australia-wide cross-section of people aged 14+.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Female-focused businesses among worst for pay equity

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Original article by Jenna Clarke, Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 5 : 28-Feb-24

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s landmark report shows that there is a significant gender pay gap at some companies whose products are primarily targeted at women. The report shows that the national median gender pay gap is 14 per cent; however, the gender pay gap is 44.5 per cent at bikini brand Seafolly and 36.3 per cent at female-focused activewear label Lorna Jane. Likewise, the gender pay gap at jewellery retailer Lovisa is 26.4 per cent. Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley says it is unacceptable that some big-name brands make profits off the products they market to women while not having pay parity in their own workforces.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. WORKPLACE GENDER EQUALITY AGENCY, SEAFOLLY, LORNA JANE EXERCISE WEAR PTY LTD, LOVISA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX LOV, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Keep lid on the minimum wage, business urges

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Original article by Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 27-Feb-24

Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO Andrew McKellar says the inflation outlook means it is likely to seek a lower increase in the minimum than the 3.5 per cent rise that it advocated in 2023. The Fair Work Commission increased the minimum wage and award rates by 5.75 per cent in 2023, which was the largest increase in more than a decade. Jarden’s chief economist Carlos Cacho says the minimum wage ruling could be a key factor in the outlook for wages in 2024.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, JARDEN AND COMPANY

Named: the big businesses with (very) large gender pay gaps

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Original article by Helen Trinca
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 27-Feb-24

Landmark data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows that the national total median remuneration gender pay gap is 19 per cent across private sector businesses with more than 100 employees. The base salary gap is in turn 14.5 per cent. However, the gender pay gap is more than 50 per cent at 37 companies, while women are paid 40-50 per cent less than their male colleagues at 107 companies. The data shows that Macquarie Group, Telstra and Woodside Energy are among the large companies that have a significant gender pay gap. WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge says employers ignore gender gaps at their peril, while Minister for Women Katy Gallagher says the gender pay gap costs the economy $51.8bn a year. The WGEA’s gender pay gap data in 2025 will include public sector employers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. WORKPLACE GENDER EQUALITY AGENCY, MACQUARIE ADVANCED INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, WOODSIDE ENERGY GROUP LIMITED – ASX WDS

Blue-collar workers to bear the brunt of jobs market slowdown

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Original article by Matthew Elmas
The New Daily – Page: Online : 20-Feb-24

Economists have for some time been forecasting that Australia’s labour market is set for a slowdown after several years of strong growth. A report from Deloitte Access Economics has forecast 1.5 per cent growth in white-collar jobs in 2024-25, following estimated growth of 2.5 per cent in 2023-24. Meanwhile, growth in blue-collar jobs is expected to slow to just 0.3 per cent, with industries such as agriculture, manufacturing and wholesaling set to shed jobs. Deloitte Access Economics partner David Rumbens notes that two-thirds of the nation’s jobs growth in 2023 occurred during the first half of the year, while the number of job vacancies has fallen by 14.4 per cent over the last 12 months.

CORPORATES
DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD

Unemployment jumps to two-year high

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 5 : 16-Feb-24

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the nation’s official unemployment rate rose to 4.1 per cent in January, up from 3.9 per cent in December. The economy added just 500 jobs in January, and Bjorn Jarvis from the ABS says seasonal factors may have contributed to the larger-than-expected increase in the jobless rate. Treasurer Jim Chalmers says that although the labour market has been weakening, it remains very strong. Capital Economics economist Abhijit Surya in turn says the Reserve Bank is now likely to bring forward the first interest rate cut to around August rather than November.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, CAPITAL ECONOMICS LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Australian unemployment virtually unchanged in January but overall unemployment and under-employment at 3 million (19.3% of workforce)

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 14-Feb-24

In January 2024, Australian ‘real’ unemployment was virtually unchanged at 1,382,000 (8.9% of the workforce), and an additional 1,618,000 (10.4%) were under-employed. In total, 3 million Australians (19.3%) were unemployed or under-employed in January. Although unemployment and under-employment remain high, there has been a surge in employment over the last year – up by 732,000 to 14,150,000. This is the largest annual increase in employment since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, employment dropped 25,000 to 14,150,000 in January. Full-time employment drove the decrease (down 37,000 to 9,205,000), while part-time employment increased 12,000 to 4,945,000. The workforce in January was 15,532,000 (down 7,000 from December, but up 507,000 from a year ago). Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 8.9% is more than double the ABS estimate of 3.9% for December, but is comparable with the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 10.4%. The January Roy Morgan Unemployment estimates were obtained by surveying an Australia-wide cross section of people aged 14+.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Latest wage growth tops 4pc

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 30-Jan-24

Analysis of data from the Fair Work Commission shows that workers received an average pay rise of four per cent in enterprise agreements that were lodged in the second half of 2023. ACTU secretary Sally McManus says stronger wage growth in enterprise agreements demonstrates the value of joining a union; however, she adds that more needs to be done to achieve real wage growth during the cost-of-living crisis. Meanwhile, the FWC has released a discussion paper on hybrid working arrangements and employees’ right to disconnect from their workplace outside of designated working hours.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU

Australian employment increased to over 14.1 million for the first time in December, but under-employment hit a record high of 1.65 million

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-Jan-24

The latest Roy Morgan employment series data shows that the number of Australians who are employed rose by 165,000 to a new record high of 14,175,000 in December 2023. The increase was due to a rise in full-time employment (up 234,000 to a new record high of 9,242,000), while part-time employment was down 69,000 to 4,933,000. Despite surging employment – up by 607,000 compared to a year ago – some 3.02 million Australians (19.4% of the workforce) were unemployed or under-employed in December (down 0.2% from November). Some 1,364,000 Australians were unemployed in December (8.8% of the workforce), a decrease of 141,000 from November (down 0.9%). In addition to the unemployed, a further 1.65 million Australians (up 119,000) were under-employed in December. Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 8.8% is more than double the ABS estimate of 3.9% for November, but is comparable with the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 10.4%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Australian employment increased to over 14 million for the first time in November, but still over 3 million unemployed or under-employed

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Dec-23

The latest Roy Morgan employment series data shows that the number of Australians who are unemployed fell by 37,000 to 1,505,000 (9.7% of the workforce, down 0.2%) in November. Under-employment fell by 45,000 to 1,532,000 (9.9% of the workforce). A total of 3.04 million Australians (19.6% of the workforce) were unemployed or under-employed in November. Meanwhile, employment rose by 51,000 to a new record high of 14,010,000 in November. The increase was due to a rise in part-time employment (up 52,000 to a new record high of 5,002,000), while full-time employment was virtually unchanged at 9,008,000. Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 9.7% for November is more than double the ABS estimate of 3.7% for October, but it is almost identical to the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 10.0%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS