{"id":655880,"date":"2026-05-21T05:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/655880\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T05:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:56:12","slug":"australia-unemployment-rate-surprise-hike-to-4-5-per-cent-in-april-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/655880\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia unemployment rate: Surprise hike to 4.5 per cent in April 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffustralia’s unemployment rate has risen to 4.5 per cent in April, surprising market watchers who largely expected the jobless rate to remain steady.<\/p>\n

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that the number of employed people fell by 19,000 in April, while the number of unemployed people rose by 33,000.<\/p>\n

The ASX200 rallied strongly soon after the result, as many suspect a weakening labour market would urge the RBA to hold or delay any further interest rate hikes.<\/p>\n

\"WaitersThe jump in unemployment will likely factor into the RBA’s next interest rate decision. (Peter Rae)<\/p>\n

The figure of 4.5 per cent is the highest the unemployment rate has been since late 2021.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffSean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said the falls in employment were similar across both full-time and part-time roles.<\/p>\n

\ufeff”Compared to what we usually see in April, more people remained unemployed this month,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Both full-time and part-time employment fell, by 11,000 and 8000 people respectively.”<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The number of employed people fell by almost 20,000 in April. (Sitthixay Ditthavong)<\/p>\n

Harry McAuley, economist for Oxford Economics Australia, said while the war in Iran would be a factor, it would have to be a “lightning-fast response” from employers to be the primary contributor.<\/p>\n

“It more likely reflects pre-war economic sentiment, compounded by the expected impacts of the oil crisis,” McAuley said.<\/p>\n

“We expect the unemployment rate to peak at 4.8 per cent in late 2027. A slowdown in private consumption and a tougher business environment should slow hiring.<\/p>\n

“Business confidence has cratered under higher inputs and borrowing costs, which will flow through their hiring decisions.”<\/p>\n

\"RBARBA governor Michelle Bullock has said the bank will closely watch both inflation and the labour market. (Renee Nowytarger)<\/p>\n

Jobless rate to influence RBA<\/p>\n

After delivering three consecutive interest rate hikes \ufeffthis calendar year, today’s unemployment figures will likely lessen the sentiment the central bank will deliver a fourth.<\/p>\n

Wee Khoon Chong, \ufeffAPAC macro strategist at BNY, said today’s surprise result will make the RBA move slower in hiking rates.<\/p>\n

“The recent uptrend in the unemployment rate points to further weakness ahead,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This, along with easing in May PMI manufacturing and services confidence, is likely to imply a more cautious pace of RBA tightening ahead. The market has pared back rate-hike expectations, pricing in around one additional 25bp hike by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

“That said, overall labour market conditions remain relatively tight. In our view, today’s jobs data is not sufficient to counter the upside inflationary impact.”<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A\ufeffustralia’s unemployment rate has risen to 4.5 per cent in April, surprising market watchers who largely expected the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-655880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}