The SA figures for May compare to a national jobless rate of 3.6 per cent (seasonally adjusted) and an underemployment rate of 6.4 per cent.

The official labour force data released today also shows around 76,000 jobs were added to the Australian economy in May.

“With employment increasing by around 76,000 people and the number of unemployed decreasing by 17,000 people, the unemployment rate fell to 3.6 per cent,” Australian Bureau of Statistics head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said.

“The strong growth in employment in May followed a small decrease in April, around Easter, when employment fell by more than it usually would over the holiday period.”

An aggressive string of interest rate rises is expected to take some heat out of the jobs market.

While the Reserve Bank is trying to return too-high inflation to target and keep as many people employed as possible, it is also hoping to see the jobs market loosen up.

That’s because its interest rate rises are supposed to cool the economy and take pressure off prices.

Treasury foresees the jobless rate drifting up to 4.5 per cent in 2024/25 before sinking back to 4.25 by 2026/27.

Other data released by the ABS today showed Australia’s population grew by 1.9 per cent in 2022.

However, South Australia managed 1.6 per cent growth, only ahead of Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

Beidar Cho, ABS head of Demography, said the national population at December 31, 2022, was 26.3 million people, after a recorded increase of 496,800 people over the year.

“This is a growth rate of 1.9 per cent, the highest seen since 2008,” Cho said.

There were 619,600 overseas migration arrivals and 232,600 departures, resulting in Australia’s population growing by 387,000 people from overseas migration.

South Australia added 28,500 people to increase the state’s population to 1,834,300.

“Recovery of international student arrivals is driving net overseas migration to historic highs, while departures are lagging behind levels typically seen over the past decade,” Cho said.

“This pattern is expected to continue as international students return following the reopening of international borders, however, there are fewer students ready to depart because very few arrived during the pandemic.”

Natural increase accounted for 109,800 people, a decrease of 23.4 per cent from the previous year.

There were 300,700 births and 190,900 deaths registered during this time, with deaths increasing 11.1 per cent and births decreasing 4.6 per cent.

COVID-19 mortality was the main contributor to an increased number of deaths and lower natural increase in 2022, according to the ABS.

– with AAP