The April 2012 ABS Labour Force Survey was just printed at 4.9%, from 5.2% print for March. The market expected 5.3% so has been blown away. The internals are not so good with full time jobs falling 10.5k, but part time climbed 26k perhaps suggesting labour market churn. Also helping the rate was the participation rate falling again to 65.2%.
Remember, the confidence interval for this survey means the real result could be +/- 0.2% around the printed headline result. Here’s the seasonally adjusted chart:
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More to follow.