In this month's feature we take stock of where the labour market is at. Although the headline unemployment rate has not risen as far or fast as during previous major recessions, the labour market has weakened dramatically in the past three years. One area of particular concern is the increase in longer-term unemployment that we have seen. The longer people spend out of a job the more financially, emotionally, and socially damaging unemployment can be. Long periods of unemployment tend to make it harder to transition back into employment and increase the risk of permanent disconnection from the labour market. The government needs to get serious about this issue.
In our regular updates, we examine the December 2025 quarter data for employment, wages, union membership, consumer inflation, and household living costs inflation. Although there are signs that the economy may start to pick up in 2026, the job market remains very weak. The only meaningful economic recovery will be one that delivers broad-based employment growth in 2026.
As usual, we provide a snapshot of wage and employment data on pages 3 and 4. For analysis of the latest GDP data, please see the December 2025 Bulletin.
