Queensland jobless rate holds at 4.5% as national rate rises to 4.7%

Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 4.7% in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on 15 October. Queensland held at 4.5%, below the national figure, which keeps the state’s labour market tighter than the national average for builders hiring trades.

Why it matters

For a Queensland developer or head contractor, the unemployment rate is a rough gauge of how hard it is to find and keep workers. A rate of 4.5% in the ABS state table, 0.2 points under the national rate, suggests Queensland labour is not loosening as fast as the national headline implies.

The release does not break out construction employment in the headline pages we could read, so we make no claim here about tradie availability by trade. What it does show is that the Queensland market is not tipping into a pool of idle workers.

It also feeds the interest-rate debate that is already shaping Brisbane buyer behaviour. We covered that angle this morning in Queensland buyers flee Brisbane for regional hotspots as rate hikes loom. A softer national jobs print gives the Reserve Bank less reason to lift rates, though the ABS release itself says nothing about the RBA’s next move.

The numbers

All figures below are from the ABS Labour Force, Australia, September 2026 release.

National, seasonally adjusted:

• Unemployment rate 4.7%, up 0.1 points on the month and 0.3 points on a year earlier.
• Employed people 14,782,700, down 39,300 (0.3%) on the month.
• Unemployed people 732,000.
• Underemployment rate 6.3%. Participation rate 66.8%, down 0.2 points.

Queensland, seasonally adjusted:

• Unemployment rate 4.5%, unchanged on the month.
• Employed people 3,043,200, down 0.1% on the month.
• Underemployment rate 6.8%, up 0.3 points.
• Participation rate 66.9%, down 0.1 points.
• Employment to population ratio 63.9%.

Queensland, trend, which the ABS says is the better read of underlying direction:

• Unemployment rate 4.5%, up 0.1 points on the month.
• Employed people 3,047,600, up 0.1% on the month.
• Participation rate 67.0%.

Against other states on the seasonally adjusted measure, Queensland’s 4.5% compares with 4.7% in New South Wales, 5.1% in Victoria, 4.2% in South Australia and 4.2% in Western Australia. Tasmania is at 5.0%. Nationally, the trend unemployment rate stayed at 4.6%.

One caution. The ABS recommends care when reading short-term changes in the seasonally adjusted series, and a 0.1 point move sits within what survey noise can produce. The rise in Queensland underemployment to 6.8% is the figure we would watch: it points to people wanting more hours, not fewer jobs.

What’s next

The ABS releases the October Labour Force figures on 19 November 2026. Queensland’s trend rate has already ticked up 0.1 points to 4.5%. A further rise would signal the state converging with the national rate.

For developers and builders, the practical read is narrow. Labour is not scarcer than last month on these numbers, but it is not easier to find either, since Queensland employment edged lower on the seasonally adjusted measure. Fixed-price contracts signed on the assumption of looser labour deserve a second look.

Our Queensland market hub will carry the next release when it lands.