STORY: Australian unemployment falls to 3.6 pct in September
DATELINE: Oct. 21, 2023
LENGTH: 00:00:38
LOCATION: Canberra
CATEGORY: ECONOMY/SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. Computer screen displaying unemployment rate data
2. Treasurer Jim Chalmers speaking about the unemployment rate on television
3. Morning rush hour crowd on their way to work
4. Australian government job assistance booths
5. Australian outdoor labor workforce scenes

STORYLINE:

Australia's unemployment fell from 3.7 percent to 3.6 percent in September, data has revealed.

According to monthly labor force data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday, the Australian economy added 6,700 jobs between August and September.

Responding to the data, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that it takes the total number of jobs created since the governing Labor Party won power in May 2022 to 561,500.

"This is the most jobs created in the first term of any government on record, and we're only halfway through the term," he told reporters in Canberra.

"Unemployment, despite all of our economic challenges, is lower now than when we came to office."

However, the ABS said that the biggest factor in the fall in unemployment between August and September was a drop in the number of people in the labor force.

In order to be classified as unemployed by the ABS, a person must be of working age, not in work and actively seeking employment.

The participation rate, which measures the portion of the working-age population who are in the labor force, fell from a record-high 67.0 percent in August to 66.7 percent in September.

"It is important to remember that a fall in unemployment does not always mean much higher employment," Kate Lamb, head of labor statistics at the ABS, said in a media release.

"The fall in the unemployment rate in September mainly reflected a higher proportion of people moving from being unemployed to not in the labor force."
Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Canberra.
(XHTV)