Australia: Another strong jobs number - TDS

Analysts at TDS explain that we got another strong Australian jobs number (employment change +54.2k/mth) that was virtually driven by full time employment rising +40.1k.

Key Quotes

“It was a very strong number considering the participation rate rose from 65.1% to 65.3%, yet the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.6%. The Australian economy has now been adding jobs for the 11th month straight. Quarterly underemployment and underutilisation data that the RBA is now looking more closely at showed underemployment decrease 0.2 pts to 8.6% and the underutilisation rate decreased 0.2 points to 14.1%. These are mild drops but signs, albeit slow, that slack is being drawn and  at least moving in the direction that the RBA would like. Given how strong the numbers are, we would not be surprised if the market questions if these numbers are ‘too good to be true’.”