Unemployment rate steady in April for Australia
The unemployment rate has held steady in April against expectations of a rise, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The total number of jobs in Australia rose by 14,200 to a seasonally adjusted 11.573 million in the month, compared to an upwardly revised 11.559 million in March.
The unemployment rate held steady at 5.8 per cent in the month, the same as in March.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted the unemployment rate would edge up to 5.9 per cent and tipped the total number of people with jobs would rise by 8,800.
The participation rate was 64.7 per cent in the month, in line with expectations, compared to an upwardly revised 64.8 per cent in March.
Although the participation rate was little changed in April, it has declined by 0.4 percentage points over the year.
The participation rate shows the proportion of the population that have a job, are looking for work or are ready to start working.
The figures come as Aurizon flags 480 job cuts as part of a restructure of its heavy maintenance operations in Queensland, while Arrium plans to cut 120 jobs at its steelmaking business in Newcastle, NSW.
Aggregate monthly hours worked fell by 39.9 million hours to 1.573 billion hours in the month.
Employment growth was entirely driven by full-time employment, which increased by 14,200 to 8.045 million. Part-time employment was unchanged during April.
Unemployment decreased by 400 to 713,400, the ABS said. The number of unemployed people looking for full-time work rose 8,700 to 519,500, while the number of unemployed people looking for part-time work fell 9,000 to 193,900.
A rise in the unemployment rate for men was offset by a decline among women.
Central bank likely to keep rates on hold: economists
The central bank is likely to leave interest rates on hold after the release of better-than-expected jobs figures, economists say.
National Australia Bank head of research Peter Jolly said the data raised questions about whether the country had already experienced a peak in unemployment.
“It’s good news all round,” he said.
“For the Reserve Bank of Australia, I don’t think it will change the outlook to keep rates on hold for a while.”
He said the increase in full-time work had come on the back of strong jobs gains the previous month.
“It demonstrates the labour market was at its weakest in the third and fourth quarter of last year.”
RBC Capital Markets senior economist Su-Lin Ong said the unemployment rate had given the market another nice surprise.
“Employment generation is really stepping up pace here,” she said.
“It will prompt further discussion about whether the unemployment rate has peaked for this cycle.
“That will get more attention given the Reserve Bank of Australia’s rhetoric on the labour market; its discussion has turned a little bit more positive.”
Ms Ong said these figures alone would not change the outlook for the RBA’s cash rate.
“The market is a little bit complacent about how long the cash rate will remain unchanged,” she said.
“If we get continued employment generation and ongoing improvement in the leading indicators for employment, then the RBA would be unlikely to stay on hold.”
Commonwealth Bank chief economist Michael Blythe said the figures provided further encouraging signs that the labour market was turning for the better.
“If so, it’s a pretty positive indication for the economy,” Mr Blythe said.
“It tells you the growth transition is pretty much on track and the labour market is doing better than most people were expecting to see.”
Mr Blythe said the employment backdrop for the upcoming May Budget was now looking better than previous estimates had indicated.
“It should have a positive impact on job security fears and feed into consumer confidence,” he said.
Source: theaustralian
