Unemployment steady at 4.1% as 89,000 more Australians found work

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Employment surged last month with nearly 90-thousand people finding jobs. The figures show the majority of new roles were full-time positions mainly filled by women. Economists say the stronger-than-expected data won't stop the reserve bank cutting interest rates next week.

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00:00Hello!

00:05Support workers provide Gazella with the help she needs to keep living at home.

00:10A little bit for company, do me job what I need, do me shopping.

00:17As the nation ages, our need for aged care workers is helping to fuel a jobs boom.

00:25It's nice to be able to help them and give back.

00:2889,000 people found work in April. The majority of them were women in mainly full-time roles.

00:36Yet the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1% as more people either found work or decided to look for a job,

00:45pushing the participation rate to a near record high.

00:49This shows the resilience of the Australian economy but also the labour market.

00:54Over the last year or so we've really seen an increase in health and social assistance employment.

00:59We've also seen quite a strong pick up in construction and that tends to be somewhat publicly funded.

01:04Other types of jobs are harder to come by. Arefe Rad spent eight months applying for roles in urban planning,

01:12widening her search to other fields.

01:15I just need a right position to enter a company and to contribute and to bring my skills and my experience.

01:25Economists say the strong jobs data should not stop the Reserve Bank from delivering a rate cut when its board meets next week.

01:33Something that would provide welcome relief to borrowers.

01:37The RBA is going to be looking at inflation, they're going to be looking at wages growth,

01:41they're going to be looking at what's happening in the private sector with retail

01:44and we really haven't seen anything there that would stop them cutting if they want.

01:49An economy in need of a reprieve.

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