Unemployment Rises Slightly to 4.1% in March

Australia’s unemployment rate has crept up ever so slightly to 4.1 per cent in March — but it’s not all bad news.

According to fresh stats from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), even though the jobless rate nudged higher, more than 32,000 people actually found work last month. At the same time, around 3000 people left the workforce altogether.

Sean Crick from the ABS said there’s still a lot of strength in the jobs market, with employment growing at a pace we haven’t seen in two decades.

“Employment rose by 32,000 people, and the number of unemployed went up by 3000 — that’s why we saw the unemployment rate tick up to 4.1 per cent,” Crick explained.

He also pointed out that key markers like the employment-to-population ratio are holding steady at 64.1 per cent, and the participation rate (which shows how many people are actively working or looking for work) edged up to 66.8 per cent.

One quirk in the data? People worked fewer hours overall in March — and weather had a lot to do with it.

“There were more people than usual saying they worked reduced hours because of bad weather,” Crick said. “That includes the impact of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred and other wild weather in New South Wales and Queensland.”

All of this — jobs, inflation, and the ongoing turbulence from Trump’s global tariff war — is now being factored in as the Reserve Bank gets ready for its next interest rate decision, which is due on May 20.

So yeah, the numbers are moving a bit, but overall the jobs market is still ticking along pretty well.