Australian unemployment rate falls

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday reported a drop in the country’s unemployment rate. According to labour force data published by the ABS, the economy added about 76,000 jobs between April and May, driving the unemployment rate down to 3.6 per cent, reports Xinhua news agency. The ABS said the increase in employment in May saw the number of employed people in Australia reach 14 million for the first time. “Just before the start of the pandemic, almost 13 million people were employed in Australia. In May 2023, this had risen to just over 14 million people,” Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said in a statement. “In addition to there being around a million more employed people than before the pandemic, a much higher share of the population is employed.” Responding to the data, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that the Australian economy had added 465,000 jobs in the 12 months since May 2022. The ABS data came when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) continued to increase interest rates to curb inflation, which is placing strain on the cost of living for some Australians due to the surge in mortgage interest rates.