Just in from The ABS:
DECEMBER KEY POINTS
TREND ESTIMATES
Employment increased 23,100 to 12,711,600. Full-time employment increased 11,800 to 8,697,600 and part-time employment increased 11,200 to 4,014,000.
Unemployment decreased 3,200 to 670,900.
Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.0%.
Participation rate remained steady at 65.6%.
Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 1.1 million hours to 1759.9 million hours.
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES
Employment increased 21,600 to 12,714,100. Full-time employment decreased 3,000 to 8,678,800 and part-time employment increased 24,600 to 4,035,300.
Unemployment decreased 14,100 to 666,700.
Unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percentage points (pts) to 5.0%.
Participation rate decreased by less than 0.1 pts to 65.6%.
Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 1.3 million hours to 1758.9 million hours.
LABOUR UNDERUTILISATION
The monthly trend underemployment rate increased less than 0.1 pts to 8.4%. The monthly underutilisation rate remained steady at 13.4%.
The monthly seasonally adjusted underemployment rate decreased 0.1 pts to 8.4%. The monthly underutilisation rate decreased 0.2 pts to 13.3%.
Full report to come.
