The ABS has just released its labour force data for March, which registered a seasonally adjusted fall in the unemployment rate to 5.7% from 5.8% in February:
While the headline numbers are good, the detail is less positive.
While overall employment increased a seasonally adjusted 26,100 to 11,909,600, this was driven entirely by part-time jobs, which jumped by 34,900 to 3,729,200. By contrast, full-time jobs fell by 8,800 to 8,180,400.
Monthly hours worked in all jobs also decreased by 17.5 million hours to 1,632.3 million hours. Whereas the participation rate remained steady at 64.9%.
Nevertheless, the headline numbers beat analysts expectations of a 0.1% increase in unemployment to 5.9% with 17,000 jobs created.
I’ll be back shortly with my usual detailed report.
