Unemployment rate remains at 4.1%

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 4.1 per cent in January, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said: ‘The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1 per cent in January.

‘Employed people grew by 18,000. Full-time employment rose by 50,000 people, partly offset by a fall of 33,000 people in part-time employment.

‘The participation rate of 66.7 per cent was 0.6 percentage points lower than the record high measured in January 2025.’

The underemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 5.9 per cent in January. The underutilisation rate also grew by 0.2 percentage points to 10.0 per cent.

‘Youth underemployment rose 1.0 percentage point to 14.8 per cent. This rise largely reversed the fall recorded last month,’ Mr Crick said.

‘This month fewer people reported working less hours than typical Januarys due to being on leave. This contributed to hours worked growing more strongly than employment,’ Mr Crick said. 

Full-time hours worked grew by 0.7 per cent, while part-time hours worked only rose by 0.1 per cent.

‘On average, part-time employed persons worked more hours this month, with part-time hours worked per person increasing by 0.8 per cent. However, the total number of part-time hours worked only rose 0.1 per cent, with the number of people employed part-time falling 0.7 per cent,’ Mr Crick said.  

‘The trend unemployment rate fell from 4.2 per cent in December to 4.1 per cent in January, as the number of unemployed has decreased for the fourth consecutive month,’ Mr Crick said.

‘Trend employment and hours worked both grew by 0.2 per cent in January, while annually, hours worked grew faster than employment.

We thank everyone who participated in and supported this survey.