The June labour markets surprised with record numbers of people working, and working more hours. But part-time work stays sticky

The June update of the jobs market has seen a better than expected growth in employment.

Full time jobs rose +29,300 and part-time employment rose +47,000 and together this +76,300 gain takes the employed workforce to 14,823,300 and a record high.

More than half the new jobs were in NSW (+41,100) with good increases in Queensland (+15.300) and Western Australia (+16,900) as well. Victoria shed -3000 jobs in June.

There was a minor +12,700 riser in the number of people jobless, now at 686,800 and a little-changed 4.4% unemployment rate.

Markets had expected overall employment to rise just +15,000 from May after the good +49,300 May rise. But instead of a pull-back we got an acceleration.

The June participation rate ticked up slightly to 67%, back to the early 2025 levels and just shy of the all-time record high of 67.2% (in January 2025). People aged 55-64 years old had the largest annual growth in the participation rate, up 0.8 percentage points to 70.6%.

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