Are Australia’s unemployment figures cause for celebration or is the devil in the detail?

Australia’s unemployment rate remains historically low at just under 4%, but groups say that doesn’t necessarily translate to wage growth. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

On the face of it, another month of Australia’s unemployment remaining around the 4% mark should be cause for celebration.

Since the Australian Bureau of Statistics began releasing labour force figures in 1978, it has never released a figure as low as March’s official estimate of 3.95% (or, in its full, geeky glory, of 3.9542384%). The last time it was this low was in November 1974.