Australian employment report for April reports a big miss on jobs.

  • Employment Change: -30.6K vs. expected 20K, prior +77K revised from +70.7K

  • Unemployment Rate: 5.5% vs. expected 5.6%, prior 5.7% revised from 5.6%

  • Full-Time Employment Change: +33.8K vs. prior was -20.8K

  • Part-Time Employment Change: -64.4K vs. prior was 91.5K

  • Participation Rate: 66.0% vs. expected 66.3%, prior was 66.3% (this 66.3% a record high)

  • Underemployment dropped to 7.8% from 8%

The employment miss has been softened by the decline in the jobless rate. These are the two headlines. U/e rate is the lowest for 2021 so far (and lowest since April of 2020) as the labour market recovers.

Those looking beyond the u/e headline will note the steep drop in participation which will be a big factor for the jobless rate decline.

For background on the influences on today's report: