Jobs report still firm

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ABS Labor Force is out for March and the news is still pretty good:

MARCH KEY POINTS

TREND ESTIMATES

  • Employment increased 20,700 to 12,790,000 persons. Full-time employment increased 18,000 to 8,781,800 persons and part-time employment increased 2,700 to 4,008,200 persons.
  • Unemployment increased 3,000 to 675,700 persons.
  • Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.0%.
  • Participation rate remained steady at 65.6%.
  • Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 4.3 million hours to 1,776.8 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES

  • Employment increased 25,700 to 12,791,500 persons. Full-time employment increased 48,300 to 8,798,300 persons and part-time employment decreased 22,600 to 3,993,200 persons.
  • Unemployment increased 17,100 to 680,000 persons.
  • Unemployment rate increased 0.1 pts to 5.0%.
  • Participation rate increased 0.1 pts to 65.7%.
  • Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 13.2 million hours to 1,785.4 million hours.

AUD up, bonds hosed. More to come.

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.