Unemployment rate at 4.7% in September

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.7 per cent in September, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said: “This month there were 39,000 less employed people and 9,000 more unemployed people. 

“As a result, the employment to population ratio fell 0.3 percentage points to 63.6 per cent, and the participation rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 66.8 per cent. 

“This September a higher proportion of people remained unemployed compared to recent years.

“This follows from last month when a higher proportion of people who were previously not in the labour force moved to being unemployed.”

The underemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 6.3 per cent.

“The number of part-time hours worked fell 1.5 per cent this month, with full-time hours worked rising by 0.4 per cent,” Mr Crick said.

“Employment and hours worked are closely aligned in annual growth, up 1.2 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively.”

Trend employment grew by 0.1 per cent, while hours worked remained steady in trend terms in September.

The trend underemployment rate remained steady at 6.3 per cent in September, while the underutilisation rate rose marginally to 11.0 per cent.

The ABS has implemented a new Supplementary Survey collection model that removes the historical Supplementary Survey effect previously observed in February and August Labour Force data. There may be a small degree of residual influence on the September 2026 seasonally adjusted data, which will become clear only with the passage of time. 

The ABS recommends being aware of this potential effect when using the September 2026 seasonally adjusted Labour Force data and continues to recommend trend data as providing the best measure of the underlying behaviour of the labour market.

For full information, see Supplementary Survey methodology changes in the Labour Force Survey.

We thank everyone who participated in and supported this survey.