About 594,300 Australians lost their job in April 2020 as a result of government restrictions and business shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Bureau of Statistics says the unemployment rate jumped from 5.2 percent seasonally adjusted in March to 6.2 percent seasonally adjusted in April.
But economist Danielle Wood from The Grattan Institute told the ABC this morning that experts were expecting the unemployment figure to be higher.
“I mean certainly in terms of the number of people becoming unemployed it is extremely high by historical standards and the rate we are seeing unemployment shoot up again, is like nothing we have ever seen,” Wood said.
“Really, what is going on here as well is we have seen a fall in the participation rate at the same time as a lot of people just decided it wasn’t worth looking for work in the individual environment.
“So in terms of that headline unemployment figure, certainly a bit lower than what we are expecting, but it does really bring home just how significant and how fast this shock has been.”
