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

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...