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