Aussie employment surges 366,100, smashes expectations

The ABS has released labour force estimates for November with jobs surging 366,100 and the unemployment rate diving 0.6% to 4.6%, despite a large 1.4% rise in the participation rate:

The result smashed analysts’ expectations of 200,000 jobs growth.

The key figures are summarised below:

• Unemployment rate decreased to 4.6%.
• Participation rate increased to 66.1%.
• Employment increased to 13,177,300.
• Employment to population ratio increased to 63.0%.
• Underemployment rate decreased to 7.5%.
• Monthly hours worked increased by 77 million hours.

The unemployment rate is now tracking just above August’s 4.5% low, which was the lowest since 2008:

I’ll return later with my usual detailed report.