The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures have revealed seasonally adjusted employment fell by 146,000 people (1.1 per cent) and hours worked dropped by 3.7 per cent in August 2021.
Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said the latest data covered the first two weeks of August, which included the continued lockdown in New South Wales, new lockdowns in Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory, and a series of changes in restrictions in other parts of the country.
“Labour market changes in New South Wales continued to have a large influence on the national employment and hours worked figures. In August, there were big falls in New South Wales in both employment (-173,000) and hours worked (-6.5 per cent).”
“The large falls in employment and hours in New South Wales in August followed falls in July (37,000 and 7.0 per cent), with employment and hours down by 210,000 people and 13.0 per cent since the beginning of the lockdown in late June.”
Other states and territories that were in lockdown for part of the first two weeks of August also recorded large falls in hours worked, including Victoria (-3.4 per cent), Queensland (-5.3 per cent) and the Australian Capital Territory (-2.5 per cent).
“Throughout the pandemic we have seen large falls in participation during lockdowns — a pattern repeated over the past few months,” Mr Jarvis said.
“Beyond people losing their jobs, we have seen unemployed people drop out of the labour force, given how difficult it is to actively look for work and be available for work during lockdowns. This has also coincided with a temporary pause in mutual obligations for jobseekers living in lockdown areas.”
“The fall in participation and unemployment in August 2021 echoes what we saw with the tight lockdown conditions in Victoria last year, during the second wave of infections. At that time, Victoria’s participation rate fell to 62.8 per cent in September 2020 (down 1.7 percentage points from June 2020, and 3.5 percentage points from March 2020). Over this period unemployment also fell, down from 259,000 in June to 230,000 in September.”
Nationally, hours worked decreased by 3.7 per cent in August, considerably more than the 1.1 per cent fall in employment. This highlights the extent to which people who experienced new or continuing lockdowns had reduced hours or no work, without necessarily losing their jobs.
“Hours worked data continues to provide the best indicator of the extent of labour market impacts and recovery from lockdowns,” Mr Jarvis said.
“It shows that hours in New South Wales fell sharply over the lockdown, down by 13.0 per cent between June and August. The data for Victoria also shows how quickly hours can recover, coming out of a lockdown.”
