Australia’s jobs market is surging with unemployment falling to an equal record low of 4%. The last time the jobless rate was this low was in August 2008. The latest data released from the Bureau of Stats estimates that 77,400 extra people were employed in February, bringing the jobless rate down from 4.2. Omicron slashed working hours in January and while there was a strong improvement in February, analysts say the virus is still a thing. “The number of employed people working no hours over the entire week due to illness or sick leave was around 80% higher than we would normally see in February,” said the head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis. Underemployment – which is when someone has a job but wants to be doing more hours – eased slightly and the participation rate is up, meaning more people are working or looking for work. The data shows 1.2% more women are trying to get back into the workforce compared to the height of the pandemic in 2020.