Unemployment hits 5.0%

Could be worse, but I think the worst is yet to come. The March 2009 HLFS reveals:

  • Employment drops by 24,000
  • Unemployment increases by 7.000 – or from 4.7% to 5.0%
  • Total force drops 17,000

The revised figures for 2008 have unemployment increasing from 3.5% to 4.7% in that calendar year.

20 – 24 year olds especially hard hit with their unemployment rate going from 7.3% to 12.0% – some of that may be seasonal though. 25 – 29 year old unemployment only went from 4.6% to 4.8%.

Employment changes by sector is interesting:

  • Ag/Forest/Fish up 800
  • Manufacturing down 6,700
  • Construction up 2,700
  • Wholesale/Retail down 31,400
  • Health/Comm up 8,200

One bright spot is number of hours worked did not fall – rose from 73,261 to 73,424. may be reflected by the fact only 11,000 FT jobs were lost while 16,000 PT jobs went.

Another rare bright spot is our OECD ranking moves from 10= to 9. We are now better off (less worse really) than Australia and Luxembourg. It is worth reflecting that 5.0% is a lot better than OECD average of 7.3% or the US at 8.5%.

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