Unemployment steady at 3.9% but 65,000 jobs lost in December

ABC NEWS (Australia)

There's more evidence the economy is slowing. Tens of thousands of people lost their jobs before Christmas all were full time roles. Outside of the pandemic December saw the biggest losses in the jobs market in three decades.

Transcript

00:00 This cafe is losing a much loved employee. Jack Creed just quit so he can move back home.

00:07 Because I can't afford to live in Melbourne anymore, so I'm moving back to Echuca.

00:14 Jack's boss is now filling the role.

00:17 A year ago we didn't get a single response for an ad. Now we've been inundated with people looking for work.

00:24 So do you feel that people are a little bit more desperate for work at the moment?

00:27 Definitely, definitely.

00:29 Around 65,000 jobs were lost before Christmas, but almost 66,000 people also stopped looking for work in December.

00:38 This prevented the unemployment rate from rising from 3.9%.

00:43 Things are turning away from workers compared to a few months ago.

00:48 The labour market is now decidedly less tight than it was at the start of 2023.

00:54 The figures have seen some correction after very high figures that came forward in October and November.

01:02 This is the biggest loss of jobs in a month outside COVID since the early 1990s.

01:08 The stark reality is that this is part of the Reserve Bank's plan to cool down the economy

01:14 and these figures may take pressure off the central bank to keep hiking rates.

01:20 Matt Johnson, who works in construction, is worried about job cuts.

01:25 If there's a massive downturn I'll possibly get laid off.

01:28 Hopefully there's an incline in employment, but yeah, it's not looking great.

01:33 Matt's mother, who cuts his hair for free, is down one worker on a year ago.

01:39 We used to have another hairdresser work with us and now there's not the demand for it so I'm just doing it myself.

01:46 Some economists are tipping the unemployment rate will rise to 4.5% by the end of the year.

01:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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