Australian jobs report for March 2018, the headlines numbers ar employment change and the unemployment rate

Employment Change: +4.9K

  • expected +20K, prior -6.3K, revised from +17.5K
  • A miss! And even the previous revised lower .... to a net loss .... not good at all!

Unemployment Rate: 5.5%

  • expected 5.5%, prior 5.6%
  • in line with estimates ... but check out the participation rate ... it fell, which flatters this u/e result .... not good either ...

Full Time Employment Change, -19.9K

  • prior was +20.1K, revised from +64.9K
  • :-(

Part Time Employment Change, +24.8K

  • prior was -26.4K, revised from -47.4K
  • :-)

Participation Rate, 65.5%

  • expected 65.7%, prior was 65.6%, revised from 65.7%
  • Lower ....

I'll post any revisions to the February results ASAP

Also, the ABS says to focus on the 'trend' numbers, I'll get those up ASAP ... here we go ...

  • The trend participation rate increased to a record high of 65.7 per cent in March 2018,
  • "The labour force participation rate now sits at 65.7 per cent, the highest it has been since the series began in 1978, indicating that the population is participating in the labour market at a record high level," the Chief Economist for the ABS, Bruce Hockman, said.
  • employment increased by around 14,000 persons
  • Part-time employment increased by 13,000 persons
  • full-time employment by 1,000 persons
  • Over the past year, trend employment increased by 3.1 per cent, which was above the average year-on-year growth over the past 20 years (1.9 per cent).
  • The trend monthly hours worked increased by 0.2 million hours (0.01 per cent), with the annual figure sitting at 2.6 per cent.
  • The trend unemployment rate increased slightly to 5.6 per cent in March 2018.
  • "The unemployment rate has continued to be relatively constrained over the past year, and is still hovering around 5.5 to 5.7 per cent", Mr Hockman said.

Nope - this is not a real great report. Its not terrible. 'Trend' data is not too bad, but the seasonally adjusted data, which are those headlines above, and is the immediate market focus, is not too good. There will be no panic at the RBA over this report, but they won;lt be turning cartwheels on it.

AUD has been marked down a few points, on its session low now (in a very small range session so far at least)

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