WA news LIVE: Perth houses linger on market as demand slows

Western Australia’s unemployment rate has fallen slightly over the September quarter, and the state was the only one in the nation to record an uplift in the participation rate, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

There were 1,706,600 people employed in WA in the quarter, according to the data released today, and the unemployment rate was 4.2 per cent, a drop of 0.2 per centage points.

The underemployment rate was 5.6 per cent, while the participation rate – the percentage of the state’s working-age population that is employed or looking for work – was 69.1 per cent, a monthly change of 0.6 per centage points.

Nationally, there was a rise in unemployment, bringing it to a level not seen since April 2021.

The data puts pressure on the Reserve Bank to hold off on further interest rate rises ahead of its November meeting.

The result was driven by NSW where the unemployment rate jumped by 0.4 percentage points to 4.7 per cent.