New unemployment data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has found the national unemployment rate fell between April and May, from 3.7% to 3.6%.

That was caused by a monthly increase in the number of employed people (by 0.5%) and a decrease in the number of unemployed people (by 3.1%).

Despite that, the number of hours worked by all those employees actually fell (by 1.8%).

“Even though hours worked fell in the latest month, their strength since late 2022, relative to employment growth, shows the demand for labour in a tight market is being met, to some extent, by people working more hours,” according to the ABS’s head of labour statistics, Bjorn Jarvis.

Another key data point was that while unemployment fell in May, underemployment rose, from 6.2% to 6.4%.

That suggests there is a significant number of people who would like to work more hours, which may give hope to businesses that are struggling to find staff.