AUSTRALIA posted its lowest jobless rate in 48 years today, setting the record by a sliver of a percentage point as the country rebounds from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many employers say they are struggling to find workers as the economy powers ahead on a diet of low interest rates, large public stimulus measures and a high savings rate.

The unemployment rate in March was unchanged from the previous month at a seasonally adjusted 4.0%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported. 

But that number is rounded up.

When crunching the numbers more precisely, the March jobless rate comes in at 3.954%, the lowest since 1974 – squeezing just a few hundredths of a percentage point below the rate set in February 2022 and other lows from 2008.

By a hair’s breadth, it is therefore the lowest unemployment rate since Labor’s Gough Whitlam was still prime minister of Australia and US President Richard Nixon was toppled by the Watergate scandal.

The jobless queue shrank by 12,000 people in March, the Australian statistics bureau said, while the economy created an extra 18,000 jobs. 

The news was welcomed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government, which is trailing in opinion polls ahead of May 21 elections.

“Our economic plan is working – an economic plan that has helped steer Australia through the biggest economic shock since the great depression,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said. 

Opposition Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese’s economic credentials have been questioned since he forgot the unemployment rate this week when talking to reporters.

John Bayssari, co-owner of Edes Restaurant and Bar, which has two outlets in Sydney’s business district, said the job market was “extremely tight”.

“We would be looking at another shop if it was not for the labour market,” he said.

‘Extraordinary’ pay demands

“It is definitely challenging,” said Matt Jenkins, human relations manager for Sydney restaurant group Applejack Hospitality.

“We are dealing with a lack of candidates but also a lack of skilled candidates. 

“Coupled with that, we’ve got rising salaries, people asking for extraordinary amounts of money.”

Australia’s labour market has been propelled by a “very strong” economic rebound from Covid-19 restrictions, with many people having built up savings during the pandemic, said Shane Oliver, chief economist at financial services company AMP.

Government stimulus, low interest rates, and the absence of backpackers and foreign workers had helped to lower the unemployment rate, Oliver said.

Economist Kristen Sobeck of the Australian National University said while a lack of overseas labour was feeding into the country’s low employment rate, the key factors were record-low interest rates and the magnitude of government fiscal stimulus handed out during the pandemic.

“Now as we kind of emerge into living with this virus, there’s a lot of pent-up demand – people are trying to spend all of these extra savings on things that they have wanted to buy for a long time,” she said. – AFP, April 14, 2022.