Last Thursday (November 12, 2024), the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the latest – Labour Force, Australia – for November 2024. I was unable to get the data in time due to where I was when it was released so I held over my. usual report until today. The latest data release shows that employment rose in net terms by 35,600 (+0.2 per cent) reversing the weakness that was recorded in October. With the participation rate falling by 0.1 points, the combination of growing employment and shrinking labour force saw unemployment decline by 27,000 and the rate fall by 0.2 points to 3.9 per cent. There was zero growth in monthly hours worked, which was surprising given the strength in full-time employment growth and the declining part-time employment. The improved overall employment growth in November after a fairly weak period in October was, in part, explained by the ABS “In November we saw a higher than usual number of people moving into employment who were unemployed and waiting to start work in October. This contributed to the rise in employment and fall in unemployment.” Underemployment fell by 0.1 point and the overall labour underutilisation rate (the sum of unemployed and underemployed) fell to 10 per cent overall. The mainstream commentators try to equate that level of wastage to a state of full employment but it just makes a mockery of the concept.