The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 4.5 per cent in July, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said: "In July, we recorded a 16,000 person fall in employment, whilst the number of unemployed people rose by 4,000."
"The majority of the fall in employment came from males, which fell by 11,000 people. There were 10,000 fewer males employed part-time, and 1,000 fewer in full-time employment in July.
"Female employment recorded a smaller fall of 5,000, with females employed part-time falling by 22,000 but full-time rising by 17,000."
The employment-to-population ratio and the participation rate both fell 0.2 percentage points, to 63.9 per cent and 66.9 per cent respectively.
The underemployment rate was 6.4 per cent in July.
"There were 12 million less hours worked this month, with those employed full-time working 7 million less hours, and those employed part-time working 5 million less hours", Mr Crick said.
New South Wales and Western Australia were the main drivers of this fall, both down 8 million hours.
Trend employment grew by 0.2 per cent while hours worked fell by 0.1 per cent in July.
The trend underemployment rate rose marginally to 6.4 per cent in July, while the underutilisation rate grew by 0.1 percentage points to 10.8 per cent.
The ABS will be completing the Labour Force Modernisation project at the end of September 2026.
"From this time, all respondents will have an improved digital experience, and users will have greater access to labour force statistics, including more frequent insights on select topics," Mr Crick said.
The ABS has released the article Update on the Labour Force Modernisation and future release plans alongside the Labour Force, Australia, July release. This article provides an update on the Labour Force Modernisation project, and outlines how users can access the new suite of Labour Force statistics from the September data release onwards.
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