Via Westpac:
December sealed a solid year for the labour market
Total employment rose by 34.7k in December, well above both the market’s (+15k) and Westpac’s (–10k) expectations with a small upward revision to November (to 63.6k from 61.6k). But most notably, despite the solid gains in employment, the unemployment rate rose to 5.5% as a 0.2ppt rise in participation boosted the labour force by 55.2k. In the year total employment gained 403k or 3.3%.
