The ABS has just released its labour force data for February, which registered a seasonally adjusted fall in the unemployment rate to 5.8% from 6.0% in January:
According to the ABS, the fall in the unemployment rate was driven purely by a decrease in labour force participation, which also fell by 0.2% to 64.9%.
Employment increased marginally (up 300) to 11,884,000, with full-time jobs rising by 15,900 to 8,192,600, offset almost fully by part-time jobs, which decreased 15,600 to 3,691,500.
Monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased by 2.0 million hours to 1,652.6 million hours.
The fall in the unemployment rate beat analysts expectations of no change (i.e. 6.0%). However, jobs growth badly missed expectations, with analysts tipping an increase of 12,500 jobs.
I’ll be back shortly with my usual detailed report.
