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How can more people be on unemployment benefits than before COVID, with fewer unemployed Australians? Here's how

  • Written by Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
How can more people be on unemployment benefits than before COVID, with fewer unemployed Australians? Here's howShutterstock

So low is Australia’s unemployment rate, the official count says there are now just 580,300 people unemployed – the least since 2009, when Australia’s population was one-sixth smaller than it is today. Compared to just before the start of the pandemic, 184,800 fewer Australians are now unemployed.

Yet surprisingly, the...

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