Exploring Australia's unemployment rate a little more

Australia's unemployment rate is falling. That should be good news. However as pointed out a couple of posts ago this is not as straightforward as it seems.

The labour market is complex and what appears to be a substantial fall in unemployment masks a rise in part-time work, a fall in the participation rate and sharply different experiences of workers based on age and gender.

This article analyses the figures, using plenty of data in charts. The conclusion is that headline figures can appear good, but mask a serious problem.

As I made many relevant points before on Queensland I won't write much here. It is critical that you read the article to the end however.

The Guardian article is here

This is an article that provides vital information for VCE candidates on what is happening to unemployment in Australia.

IB candidates are also able to use this as an example and look at the key issues of measuring unemployment and should also consider how such unemployment can be cured. Note this article is not suitable for an IA as it is an analytical article - it does the job the IA should do, but there should be other articles out there on the latest unemployment figures (hint hint).