{
  "id": 9463310,
  "title": "Breaking: Unemployment rate reaches post-COVID era high of 4.6pc in August",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/breaking-unemployment-rate-reaches-post-covid-era-high-of-4-6pc-in",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-24T01:45:48.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "ABC News AU",
    "slug": "abc-news-au",
    "url": "https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-24/unemployment-rate-australia-rises-post-covid-era-high-august/107189792"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In August, Australia's unemployment rate surged to a post-COVID high of 4.6 percent, marking the highest figure since the COVID-19 pandemic began. This marks a rise from 4.5 percent in the previous month of July. The seasonally adjusted and trended rate is the highest it has been in the post-COVID era.\n\nRBA governor Michele Bullock suggested that an unemployment rate between 4.5 and 5 percent would provide sufficient relief to the labor market to ease inflation pressures. Recently, four major banks and the majority of money market traders have forecasted that the RBA will raise interest rates next week to control economic activity and combat inflation.\n\nDespite these expectations, data from August reveals that Australia's labor force expanded by 67,700 individuals. This increase pushed the participation rate back up to 67.1 percent, from 66.9 percent in July. The participation rate has now reached near its all-time high of 67.2 percent. The growth in the labor force was driven by an additional 39,500 people finding employment and 28,200 more individuals being registered as unemployed.",
  "summary": "The national unemployment rate rises to 4.6 per cent, up from 4.5 per cent in July, in seasonally adjusted and trend terms.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Investing.com",
        "title": "Australia’s unemployment rate hits five-year high in August as more seek work",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/australias-unemployment-rate-hits-five-year-high-in-august-as-more",
        "published": "2026-09-24T02:18:28.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Straits Times Business",
        "title": "Australia’s jobless rate hits five-year high in August as more seek work",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/australias-jobless-rate-hits-five-year-high-in-august-as-more-seek",
        "published": "2026-09-24T02:52:12.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}