The ABS has reported that seasonally adjusted employment has fallen by 594,300 between March and April.

The unemployment rate increased by one percent from 5.2 percent to 6.2 percent, with an additional 104,500 people becoming unemployed, bringing the number to 823,300 people.

High numbers of people leaving the labour force also saw an unprecedented decline in the participation rate by 2.4 percent to 63. 5 percent. This means that there were high numbers of unemployed people who either weren’t available for work or were not actively looking for work.

COVID-19 also impacted the number of hours worked, with total hours worked falling by approximately 9.2 percent between March and April.

An estimated 2.7 million people between March and April were reported to have either left their employment, or had their work hours reduced. Approximately 1 in 5 of these people were employed in March. Consequently, underemployment rates rose to a record high of 13.7 percent, with a total of 1.8 million people being underemployed.