A staff member serves a customer at a shop in Canberra, Australia, on July 24, 2026. Australia's unemployment rate remained steady in June as the labor force participation rate rose to an 11-month high, according to official data released on Thursday. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said that the number of employed Australians increased by 76,300 between May and June, which was offset by a 12,700 rise in unemployment. (Photo by Zhang Na/Xinhua)
CANBERRA, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Australia's unemployment rate remained steady in June as the labor force participation rate rose to an 11-month high, according to official data released on Thursday.
The monthly data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that the unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in June, matching the figure for May.
The ABS said that the number of employed Australians increased by 76,300 between May and June, which was offset by a 12,700 rise in unemployment.
Those increases drove the participation rate, which measures the proportion of the working-age population who are either employed or actively looking for work, from 66.7 percent in May to 67.0 percent in June, the highest figure since July 2025.
Sean Crick, head of labor statistics at the ABS, said that people aged 55-64 years had the largest annual growth in the participation rate, rising by 0.8 percentage points to 70.6 percent in June.
Over the year to June, the number of employed Australians rose by 1.7 percent while unemployment grew by 4.6 percent. ■
