Australia’s unemployment rate remained steady in April despite almost 90,000 people finding work.
Official figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday said that the official unemployment rate was 4.1 percent for the second straight month in April.
The ABS said the number of employed Australians increased by 89,000 between March and April, and the number of unemployed people increased by 6,000 in the same period.
Of the 89,000 people who found work, 65,000 were women. Female employment growth was mainly in full-time workers, which rose 42,000.
According to ABS data, employment has grown by 390,000 people, or 2.7 percent, over the past 12 months — higher than the population growth rate for people aged 15 and over of 2.1 percent over the same period.
The ABS said the employment-to-population ratio rose from 64.1 percent in March to 64.4 percent in April, just below the record-high of 64.5 percent set in January.
The participation rate, which measures the proportion of the working-age population who are either employed or actively looking for work, rose from 66.8 to 67.1 percent between March and April.
“The participation rate for 35-44 year olds had the largest annual growth, up 1.9 percentage points to 88.3 percent,” Sean Crick, head of labor statistics at the ABS, said.
