Australia's jobless figure tops 1 million mark for first time amid COVID-19 pandemic

The number of unemployed Australians topped one million for the first time ever during the month of July amid the COVID-19 pandemic despite almost 115,000 jobs being created during the same period, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said Thursday.

Between June and July, the national unemployment rate rose from 7.4 percent to 7.5 percent, an increase of 15,700 people, reaching its highest level percentage-wise since 1998, as businesses struggled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The number of unemployed people rose by nearly 16,000 between June and July. For the first time there were more than one million people out of work, available to work and actively looking for work", said Bjorn Jarvis, head of Labour Statistics at the ABS.