Jobs miss

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The ABS has released the April labour market survey and it’s a dud:

TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

  • Employment increased to 11,725,000.
  • Unemployment decreased to 767,500.
  • Unemployment rate decreased less than 0.1 pts to 6.1%.
  • Participation rate remained steady at 64.8%.
  • Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 6.9 million hours to 1,643.7 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

  • Employment decreased 2,900 to 11,724,600. Full-time employment decreased 21,900 to 8,115,900 and part-time employment increased 19,000 to 3,608,600.
  • Unemployment increased 7,000 to 769,500. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 2,700 to 541,500 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work increased 9,800 to 228,000.
  • Unemployment rate increased 0.1 pts to 6.2%.
  • Participation rate decreased 0.1 pts but remained at 64.8%, based on unrounded estimates.
  • Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 17.8 million hours (1.1%) to 1,651.9 million hours.

4k jobs expected so not a big miss. Some offset in hours worked. Much more to come. Dollar dumped 20 pips.

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.