Western Australia’s unemployment rate tumbled to 3.6% in February, down 0.7 percentage points from 4.3% the month prior.

This is now the second lowest unemployment rate of all states, behind only South Australia. This is on the back of a significant fall in the number of people unemployed, which dropped by 11,400 as the summer holiday period came to an end and those waiting to start work commenced their jobs.

In fact, the number of people employed rose by 26,300 over the month, the majority of these being full time positions – taking total employment to a new record.  

WA’s population growth continues to accelerate

Population data released last week revealed WA’s population continues to explode, with population growth climbing to 3.3% for the year for the year to September 2023. 

This is the fastest pace of growth since 2009 and is greater than any other state in the country. The pickup in growth comes on the back of a further uptick in net overseas migration, with just over 18,000 people moving to WA from overseas – the second largest quarterly increase since records began.

Inflation holds steady over February 

Inflation rose 3.4% in the 12 months to February, unchanged from January but a tick below expectations. The most significant price rises driving this result were rents (+7.6%), new dwelling purchases (+4.9%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.6%) and insurance and financial services (+8.4%). Excluding volatile items, inflation is 3.9%, down from 4.1% in January and now the 11th consecutive month of decline.  

 

CCIWA’s Economic reports are available exclusively to CCIWA Complete, Advantage and Corporate Members. For more see CCIWA’s Economic Insight page.