The release of the Australian Bureau of statistics employment data for June 2026 had economists on the edge of their seats for two key reasons. 

Firstly, the Reserve Bank watches official employment data closely. The RBA sees it as a key indicator of the amount of 'heat' in the economy which significantly influences its decisions about whether or not to raise interest rates. 

Secondly, because employment data is a 'lag indicator' economists use it to confirm the assumptions they make based on their observations of other factors pointing to the state of health of the economy. 

But the figures for June reveal a potential conundrum. Unemployment remained at 4.4%, but an extra 76,300 people joined the employment ranks which is a jump of 0.5% in the number of employed people in the month and 1.7% over the year.  As well, the number of hours worked increased 1.8% to 2.014bn.

So, how can we have a slowing economy but continued demand more workers? 

There are some possible explanations of course.  A lot of the new jobs were part-time and data does move around month to month.  There is also our continued productivity challenge, and there has been sustained jobs growth in the public sector. 

The NSW unemployment  to 4%, The participation rate is at 66.2%, and the underemployment rate is at 6.3%.

The worst performing state was Victoria, which has an unemployment rate of 5%.