Australia: Employment falls for the first time in more than three years – ANZ

Felicity Emmett, senior economist at ANZ, suggests that Australia’s 19k drop in employment in October was the first drop since September 2016 and even with a 0.1ppt drop in the participation rate to 66.0%, this saw the unemployment rate edge back up to 5.3%.

Key Quotes

“The weakness was broadly based, with full-time employment dropping 10.3k, while part-time employment fell 8.7k.”

“Once again, the fall in the participation rate was entirely due to males, with the female participation rate holding steady at a record high of 61.2%. Despite this, male unemployment edged higher again to 5.5%, alongside a 18k drop in employment. The female unemployment rate also rose, up to 5.2%, with employment down a modest 1.4k.”

“Along with the rise in unemployment, the underemployment rate reversed last month’s fall and rose 0.2ppt back to 8.5%. Total underutilisation is now back at the recent high of 13.8%. The persistent slack in the labour market was reflected in the Q3 Wage Price Index this week, which showed a wage growth slowdown.”