Employment and unemployment

In seasonally adjusted terms, in September 2026:

• the employment-to-population ratio decreased 0.3ppt to 63.6%.
• the unemployment rate increased 0.1ppt to 4.7%.

In trend terms, in September 2026:

• the employment-to-population ratio remained at 63.8%.
• the unemployment rate remained at 4.6%.

Detailed monthly and quarterly Labour Force Survey data, including hours, regions, families, job search, job duration, casual, industry and occupation

• There were 2,657,400 public sector employee jobs in the month of June 2026, an increase of 60,300 (2.3%) from June 2025.
• In 2025-26, total public sector cash wages and salaries increased $16.5b (6.6%) to $266.1 billion.

In 2025-26:

• 1.2 million people (aged 18-75) without a (paid) job wanted a job, with 1.0 million available to either start immediately or within 4 weeks.
• The most common reason women who wanted a job were unavailable to start within 4 weeks was 'Caring for children', while for men it was 'Long-term health condition or disability'.
• 1.9 million people (aged 18 to 75) without a job did not want a job, with a further 2.1 million either retired or permanently unable to work.
• The main reason for not wanting a job was 'No need, satisfied with current arrangements' (38%).

In original terms, in September 2026:

• the median unemployment rate across SA4s was 4.4%.
• the range of unemployment rates across SA4s was 2.6% to 6.8%.
• the range of participation rates across SA4s was 51.1% to 75.6%.

In February 2026:

• 1.7 million people were not working but wanted to work
• the job mobility rate was 7.2%, a decrease from February 2025 (7.7%)
• the annual retrenchment rate was 1.8%, a decrease from 1.9% in February 2025
• 822,800 part-time workers who preferred and were available to work more hours, with almost half preferring to work full-time (48%)

In February 2026:

• 822,800 part-time workers preferred and were available to work more hours, with almost half preferring to work full-time (48%)
• 43% of part-time workers who preferred more hours took active steps to look for more hours

In February 2026:

• 1.7 million people were not working but wanted to work (potential workers)
• 1.1 million people were available to start work, including 640,000 unemployed people

In 2024-25:

• 156,000 people aged 45 years and over retired, with an average age of 63.8 years.
• There were a total of 4.5 million people aged 45 years and over who were retired (retirees).
• The average age at retirement of all retirees was 57.3 years.
• The average age people aged 45 years and over intend to retire is 65.6 years, a slight increase on 2022-23 (65.4 years).
• Government pension remained the most common main source of income for retirees.

In June 2025:

• There were 7.7 million families, an increase of over 1.0 million since June 2015.
• There were 1.4 million jobless families, which represents 18.5% of all families.
• 271,000 one parent families were jobless.
• Almost three-quarters (73%) of the 2.2 million couple families with children aged 0-14 years had two employed parents.

Employment in renewable energy activities reports on full time equivalent employment by state and territory and type of renewable energy

Detailed labour force data collected on a quarterly basis

Summary results following the process of rebenchmarking the Labour Force Survey data to the final 2016 Census based Estimated Resident Population