The Australian economy has just recorded its biggest monthly job losses since records began in 1978.
Today the Australian Bureau of Statistics released its employment data for the month of April. This was the first month which fully captured the impact of broad-based lockdowns implemented late in March.
According to the release, the 594,300 jobs were lost from the economy in April, bringing Australia’s unemployment rate to a seasonally adjusted 6.2%.
This compares to the 550,000 jobs that economists were expecting the economy to lose last month and the 450,000 jobs that Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) was forecasting.
Hours worked plunge.
Due to initiatives such as the JobKeeper program, this data doesn’t truly show the extent of the damage to the economy.
Arguably a more accurate representation is using the hours worked metric. The Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that total hours worked fell by around 9.2% between March and April.
It commented: “When taken together with people leaving the workforce, around 2.7 million people (about 1 in 5 people employed in March) either left employment or had their hours reduced between March and April.”
As a result of this, the number of underemployed people rose by 603,300 people in April, to a total of 1.8 million people. This means the underemployment rate now stands at a record high of 13.7%, up 4.9 percentage points.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics also revealed a sharp increase in the underutilisation rate. This combines the unemployment and underemployment rates and rose to a record high of 19.9% in April.
In a press conference Prime Minister Scott Morrison acknowledged that this is a “tough day for Australia.”
He commented: “Almost 600,000 jobs have been lost. Every one of them devastating for those Australians, for their families, for their communities. A very tough day.”
But the Prime Minister remains optimistic on the future, saying: “Hard work, that’s the way out. It’s always been the way out for us. Australians hurting today, they can look forward knowing, on the basis of our national character and ingenuity and resolution, that we will see those better days.”
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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of Westpac Banking. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
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