The run of better employment data continues today with ANZ job ads for April out and showing a solid 2.2% rise for the month and 1.5% year on year. That’s the fourth gain in four months though the index remains very subdued:
Also, from the weekend, Roy Morgan released its April employment figures and they also looked firm:
In April 2014 an estimated 1.308 million Australians (10.4% of the workforce) were unemployed. April unemployment is down a large 157,000 (1.2%) from last month however compared to the same time last year unemployment is up 154,000 (1.1%).
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The Australian workforce* was 12,629,000 (up 34,000) comprising 7,568,000 full-time workers (up 204,000); 3,753,000 part-time workers (down 13,000); and 1,308,000 looking for work (down 157,000) according to the Roy Morgan monthly employment estimates. The Roy Morganemployment and unemployment figures do not include people who have dropped out of the workforce and given up looking.
The big drop is seasonal but last year it barely happened so there is definitely a better tone this year. Odds favour a decent employment report this week.
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.
