In April 2025, Australian ‘real’ unemployment increased 176,000 to 1,780,000 (up 1% to 11.2% of the workforce) with more people joining the workforce and overall employment dropping in April.
The expansion in the workforce was the main driver of the increase in unemployment with 156,000 people joining the workforce lifting the number of Australians in the workforce to 15,946,000 (69.4% of Australians aged 14+). In addition, overall employment was down slightly by 20,000 to 14,166,000.
The April Roy Morgan Unemployment estimates were obtained by surveying an Australia-wide cross section of people aged 14+. A person is classified as unemployed if they are looking for work, no matter when. The ‘real’ unemployment rate is presented as a percentage of the workforce (employed & unemployed).
- Australian workforce expanded by 156,000 in April driving the growth in unemployment:
In April the Australian workforce increased 156,000 to 15,946,000 driven by the increase in unemployment, up 176,000 to 1,780,000. Overall employment fell slightly by 20,000 to 14,166,000.
- Overall employment decreased in April driven by a significant fall in full-time employment:
Australian employment dropped 20,000 to 14,166,000. The decrease was driven by a drop in full-time employment; down 291,000 to 9,094,000, although part-time employment grew 271,000 to 5,072,000.
- Unemployment increased in April driven by people joining the workforce and looking for jobs:
1,780,000 Australians were unemployed (11.2% of the workforce, up 1%), an increase of 176,000 from March. The increase in unemployment was driven by increases in people looking for part-time work, up 149,000 to 1,106,000, and more people looking for full-time work, up 27,000 to 674,000.
- Overall unemployment and under-employment was up 1.1% to 20.4% in April:
In addition to the unemployed, a further 1.47 million Australians (9.2% of the workforce) were under-employed, i.e. working part-time but looking for more work, up 43,000 from March. In total 3.25 million Australians (20.4% of the workforce) were either unemployed or under-employed in April.
- Comparisons with three years ago, at the time of the last Federal Election (May 2022) and nearing the end of COVID-19 restrictions a few months later, show a rapidly increasing workforce has driving employment growth over the last three years (2025 vs. 2022):
The workforce in April was at a near record 15,946,000 (up 1,533,000 from May 2022) – comprised of 14,166,000 employed Australians (up 922,000 from three years ago) and 1,780,000 unemployed Australians (an increase of 611,000 since May 2022).
Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 11.2% is clearly more than double the ABS estimate of 4.1% for March, but is in line with the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 10.0%.
The latest monthly figures from the ABS indicate that the people working fewer hours in March 2025 due to illness, injury or sick leave was 482,000. Significantly, this is over 90,000 higher than the pre-pandemic average of the five years to March 2019 (391,280) – a difference of 90,720.
If this higher than pre-pandemic average of workers (90,720) who are working fewer hours due to illness, injury or sick leave is added to the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 1,515,800 we find a total of 1,60,520 people could be considered unemployed or under-employed, equivalent to 10.6% of the workforce.
Roy Morgan Unemployment & Under-employment (2019-2025)
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source January 2019 – April 2025. Average monthly interviews 5,000.
Note: Roy Morgan unemployment estimates are actual data while the ABS estimates are seasonally adjusted.
Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, says the latest Roy Morgan employment estimates for April shows unemployment (11.2%) increasing significantly due to a rapidly expanding workforce:
“The latest Roy Morgan employment estimates for April show total Australian unemployment or under-employment increasing by 219,000 to 3,252,000 (20.4% of the workforce, up 1.1%).
“There were increases in both unemployment, up 176,000 to 1,780,000 (11.2% of the workforce, up 1%) and under-employment, up 43,000 to 1,472,000 (9.2%, up 0.1%).
“The increase was driven by 156,000 people joining the workforce and a slight decrease in jobs, down 20,000 to 14,166,000. The decrease in overall employment was due to a fall in full-time employment, down 291,000 to 9,094,000 during a month with consecutive long weekends, although part-time employment increased 271,000 to 5,072,000.
“A look at longer-term trends during the last term of Parliament reveals a rapidly growing population and expanding workforce since the election of the Albanese Government in May 2022. Since the Federal Election in May 2022 the population has increased by over 1.7 million, the workforce has increased by over 1.5 million and employment has grown by well over 900,000.
“These figures are over twice as high as the long-term averages over the 20 years from 2000 to early 2020 (pre COVID-19). Over this period population growth averaged around 280,000 per year (840,000 over three years) and the workforce grew by an average of around 230,000 per year (690,000 over three years).
“However, despite the record employment growth over the last three years, there are still a significant number of people who have joined the workforce without finding employment – a total of 611,000 since the 2022 Federal Election. This influx of people into the workforce has meant unemployment is up significantly over the last three years from 8.1% of the workforce to 11.2% (up 3.1%).
“Looking back since the 2022 Federal Election the rapidly increasing Australian population and workforce has led to a persistently high level of labour under-utilisation. Since July 2022 total unemployed and under-employed has been permanently above 2.5 million, and since May 2023 total labour under-utilisation has been stuck above 2.7 million and averaged more than 3 million people.
“These figures show that the re-elected Albanese Government has a significant challenge ahead as it enters its second term in office developing policies to find employment opportunities for the millions of Australians looking for work (unemployed) or looking for more work (under-employed).”
This Roy Morgan survey on Australia’s unemployment and ‘under-employed’* is based on weekly interviews of 948,215 Australians aged 14 and over between December 2008 and April 2025 and includes 6,096 telephone and online interviews in April 2025. *The ‘under-employed’ are those people who are in part-time work or freelancers who are looking for more work.
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