The Australian employment report data and my take is here:
This now via Westpac, in brief:
- despite the fall in unemployment, this is a soft update due to a smaller than expected increase in employment, falling hours worked and the recognition that the lower unemployment rate was due to workers exiting the labour market rather than any underlying strength in labour demand
- In addition the quarterly seasonally update of the underemployment rate lifted to 8.48% in May from 8.36% in February
