Unemployment rate hits two-year high

Australia's unemployment rate has risen to 4.1 per cent as 22,000 residents left the employment pool in January.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point to the highest point it has been in two years.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the unemployment rate was "very low by historical standards".

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"What we're seeing in these figures is that the market continues to soften in expected ways," he said.

"Our labour market has been weakening but it has been weakening from a quite incredibly strong and resilient base."

Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said today's figures "may be an indication of a changing seasonal dynamic".

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"With employment remaining stable and the number of unemployed increasing by 22,000 people, the unemployment rate rose to 4.1 per cent in January," he said.

"This was the first time in two years, since January 2022, that the unemployment rate had been above four per cent."

However, similar to the January in 2022 and 2023, the increase in the unemployment rate coincided with a higher-than-usual number of people who were said they would be starting or returning to work in the future.

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"While there were more unemployed people in January, there were also more unemployed people who were expecting to start a job in the next four weeks," Jarvis said.

"This may be an indication of a changing seasonal dynamic within the labour market, around when people start working after the summer holiday period.

"In January 2022, 2023 and 2024, around five per cent of people who were not employed were attached to a job, compared with around four per cent in the January surveys prior to the COVID-19 pandemic."