FX.co ★ Australia Employment Unexpectedly Drops

In May 2025, Australia's employment numbers decreased by 2,500, bringing the total workforce to 14.62 million. This unexpected decline ran counter to market predictions of a 25,000 increase and marked the first drop since February. Previously, April had seen an upwardly revised increase of 87,600 jobs. Specifically, part-time employment experienced a significant decrease of 41,200, falling to 4.52 million, which reversed a slightly adjusted rise of 29,000 in April. Conversely, full-time employment rose by 38,700, reaching a new peak of 10.10 million, although this was a slowdown compared to April’s adjusted growth of 58,600. The overall employment-to-population ratio decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 64.2%, despite the female employment-to-population ratio increasing by the same margin to a record 60.9%. Annually, employment in May expanded by 329,100, representing a 2.3% growth, surpassing the pre-pandemic 10-year average annual growth of 1.7%.