As summarised earlier by Houses & Holes, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today released labour force data for the month of July, which registered a sharp increase in the headline unemployment rate to 6.4% from an upwardly revised 6.0% in June – the highest unemployment rate for 12 years. The result disappointed analyst’s expectations of a steady unemployment rate of 6.0%. In trend terms, unemployment rose marginally to 6.0% in July (see next chart).
Total employment decreased by a seasonally adjusted 300 to 11,576,600 in July. The decrease in jobs was driven by a 14,800 decrease in part-time jobs, partly offset by a 14,500 increase in full-time jobs. Aggregate monthly hours worked decreased by 14.8 million hours (0.9%) to 1 ,610.7 million hours.
