The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.1% in March, as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Despite a growth in employment by 32,000 people, the number of unemployed individuals also increased by 3,000, contributing to the small uptick in the unemployment rate.
Over the past 12 months, employment has grown by 308,000 people, or 2.2%, slightly surpassing the pre-pandemic 20-year average of 2%.
The employment-to-population ratio remained steady at 64.1%, while the participation rate edged up to 66.8%.
Monthly hours worked declined by 0.3%, marking the second consecutive month of decrease, largely due to adverse weather events, including ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, which led to a higher-than-usual number of workers reporting reduced hours.
The underemployment rate held steady at 5.9%, reflecting a 0.6 percentage point improvement from March 2024 and a 2.8 percentage point drop from March 2020.
The underutilisation rate, which combines unemployment and underemployment, remained at 9.9%, down 4 percentage points from the same time five years ago.
In trend terms, the unemployment rate stayed at 4.0%, within a narrow range of 3.9% to 4.1% over the past 16 months.
Employment grew by 14,000 people in March, with a 2.3% annual increase. The participation rate slightly fell by 0.1 percentage point to 66.9%.