The Australian employment report for December is due on Thursday 3adte at 0030GMT

(i.e. pretty soon!)

  • Employment Change: expected 18.0K, prior 37.0K
  • Unemployment Rate: expected 5.1%, prior 5.1%
  • Full Time Employment Change: prior was -6.4K
  • Part Time Employment Change: prior was +43.4K
  • Participation Rate: expected 65.7%, prior was 65.7%

These in brief:

Via ANZ:

  • leading labour market indicators remaining solid
  • we expect there was further improvement in the labour market in December, following strong gains in October and November

Via NAB:

  • Labour force data continues to be an important positive signal on the economy
  • recent concerns around retail sales have likely shifted the RBA's focus towards consumer spending
  • Barring any sharp changes to the unemployment rate in the data next week, the RBA is on track for its expectation of a 5% average unemployment rate in the December quarter. As such, the Bank will likely continue to expect a gradual tightening in the labour market
  • expect data to confirm trend employment growth was strong over 2018
  • there is some slight risk of a 5% u/u result