Australia’s Unemployment Rate steadies at 4.1% in April vs. 4.1% expected

Australia’s Unemployment Rate steadied at 4.1% in April from 4.1% in March, according to the official data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday. The figure came in line with the market consensus.

Furthermore, the Australian Employment Change arrived at 89K in April from 36.4K in March (revised from 32.2K), compared with the consensus forecast of 20K.

The participation rate in Australia increased to 67.1% in April, compared to 66.8% in March. Meanwhile, Full-Time Employment increased by 59.5K in the same period from 12.2K in the previous reading (revised from 15K). The Part-Time Employment increased by 29.5K in April versus 24.2K prior. (revised from 17.2K)

Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said with the key highlights noted below

The rise in employment was larger for females, up 65,000 (0.9 per cent), while male employment was up 24,000 (0.3 per cent). Female employment growth was mainly in full-time workers, which rose 42,000 (1.1 per cent) in April. Female part-time workers rose by 23,000 (0.8 per cent).

Employment has grown by 390,000 people, or 2.7 per cent, over the year. This annual growth rate is higher than the population growth rate for people aged 15 years and over, which was 2.1 per cent over the same period.

The strong growth in employment led to a rise in the employment-to-population ratio of 0.3 percentage points to 64.4 per cent in April, just below the record high of 64.5 per cent seen in January. 

Market reaction to the Australia’s employment data

The Australian Dollar attracts some buyers following the data. At the time of writing, the AUD/USD pair is trading 0.32% higher on the day to trade at 0.6447.

AUD/USD 15-min chart

This section below was published at 21:30 GMT on Thursday as a preview of the Australia Employment report

• The Australian Unemployment Rate is foreseen unchanged at 4.1% in April.
• Employment Change is expected to post a modest advance at the beginning of the second quarter.
• AUD/USD pressures the upper end of its latest range, aims for a bullish breakout.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will release the April monthly employment report at 01:30 GMT on Thursday. The country is expected to have added 20K new job positions, while the Unemployment Rate is projected to hold steady at 4.1%. Ahead of the announcement, the Australian Dollar (AUD) trades near the 0.6500 level against the US Dollar (USD), flirting with the year high posted early May at 0.6514.

The ABS Employment Change separately reports full-time and part-time jobs. According to its definition, full-time jobs imply working 38 or more hours per week and usually include additional benefits, but they mostly represent consistent income. On the other hand, part-time employment generally offers higher hourly rates but lacks consistency and benefits. This is why full-time jobs are given more weight than part-time ones when setting the directional path for the AUD.

In March, Australia created 32.2K new job positions, adding 15K new full-time positions and 17.2K part-time ones.

Australian Unemployment Rate seen steady in April

The Australian Unemployment Rate has held around 4% since April 2024, easing towards 3.9% in November and peaking at 4.1% in January 2025. Despite standing at the upper end of the range, unemployment levels in Australia are becoming less of a concern.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) met on April 1, leaving the Official Cash Rate (OCR) unchanged at 4.10%. According to its definition, the RBA's duty is to contribute to the stability of the currency, full employment and the economic prosperity and welfare of the Australian people.

In its latest meeting, RBA officials noted that “labour market conditions remain tight. Despite a decline in employment in February, measures of labour underutilisation are at relatively low rates and business surveys and liaison suggest that availability of labour is still a constraint for a range of employers. Wage pressures have eased a little more than expected but productivity growth has not picked up and growth in unit labour costs remains high.”

Other than that, policymakers stated: “Inflation has fallen substantially since the peak in 2022, as higher interest rates have been working to bring aggregate demand and supply closer towards balance. Recent information suggests that underlying inflation continues to ease in line with the most recent forecasts published in the February Statement on Monetary Policy. Nevertheless, the Board needs to be confident that this progress will continue so that inflation returns to the midpoint of the target band on a sustainable basis. It is therefore cautious about the outlook.”

With that in mind, it seems unlikely that the upcoming monthly employment report could have a broad impact on the RBA’s monetary policy path. It’s worth noting that the central bank will meet once again on May 20.

In the meantime, global trade tensions receded, bolstering AUD demand. China and the United States (US) agreed to drastically reduce tit-for-tat tariffs for 90 days, aiming to clinch, in the meantime, a more reasonable trade deal. It may be too early to claim victory on the matter, but at least the headlines maintained the market’s mood tilted to positive, which should provide additional support to the AUD.

When will the Australian employment report be released and how could it affect AUD/USD?

The ABS will publish the April employment report early on Thursday. As previously stated, Australia is expected to have added 20K new job positions in the month, while the Unemployment Rate is foreseen at 4.1%. Finally, the Participation Rate is expected to hold at 66.8%.

Generally speaking, a better-than-anticipated employment report will boost the AUD, even if the more significant increase comes from part-time jobs. However, the advance could be more sustainable if the increase comes from full-time positions. The opposite scenario is also valid, with soft figures weighing on the Australian currency.

Ahead of the announcement, the AUD/USD pair trades not far below the aforementioned yearly high. According to Valeria Bednarik, Chief Analyst at FXStreet, “further AUD/USD gains are likely, but will depend on the market’s sentiment, rather than on employment data, particularly if the figures result within expectations.”

Bednarik adds: “Despite being near a multi-month high, the AUD/USD pair lacks clear upward momentum, and, on the contrary, remains within a clear consolidative range between 0.6350 and 0.6510. Technical readings in the daily chart reflect the neutral stance, as moving averages stand pretty much flat. Still, the pair is currently above the 200 Simple Moving Average (SMA), which develops above the 20 and 100 SMAs, which skews the risk to the upside. The same chart shows technical indicators lost their upward strength but hold within positive levels, also aligned with upward risks.”

“Gains beyond the top of the range within a risk-on environment could push the pair towards the 0.6600 mark in the near term. Gains beyond the latter would be more related to broad USD weakness than AUD strength, with near-term resistance at 0.6630 and the 0.6670 price zone. Support, on the other hand, comes at 0.6420 and 0.6370, with buyers likely to reappear around the latter.”