Home›Forex›Major Pairs›Australia employment jumps in August but unemployment…

Australia employment jumps in August but unemployment rate ticks up

August employment rose 39.5k, driven entirely by part-time work, while unemployment climbed to 4.6% as participation increased to 67.1%.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Major Pairs

Australia’s labor market improved in August, with employment rebounding to a seasonally adjusted gain of 39.5k, beating expectations for about a 20k increase. The Australian Bureau of Statistics data also showed participation rising from 66.9% to 67.1%.

The headline strength was tempered by a deterioration in unemployment, which increased from 4.5% to 4.6%. ABS said employment rose alongside 28k more unemployed, with some of the increase reflecting a larger share of people moving from outside the labor force into unemployment.

The composition of the gain mattered, with part-time employment up 46k and full-time employment falling by 6k. Hours worked increased 0.7% month over month, reversing a decline in July, and the underemployment rate edged down from 6.3% to 6.2%.

Overall, the seasonally adjusted figures indicated jobs were still being created, but the workforce appeared to be expanding faster than labor demand was absorbing it completely. The ABS also cautioned that changes to its supplementary survey methodology could affect August seasonally adjusted movements, though sensitivity testing suggested any impact would be smaller than typical sampling variability.

More like this

Sources