Australian labor market continues to be solid in June, jobless rate unchanged at 5.4 pct

The Australian labor force report for the month of June indicates that the labor market continues to be in good shape. Employment grew 50.9k in June, while the May data was upwardly revised by 13.4k from the earlier 12k. The detail was solid with full-time jobs rising 41.2k and part-time jobs rising 9.7k. Total hours worked were up 0.6 percent sequentially.

Australia’s jobless rate continued to be the same at 5.4 percent, alongside a rise in the participation rate from 65.5 percent to 65.7 percent. The female participation rate reached its all-time high of 60.6 percent, while male participation rose to 70.9 percent.

Throughout the country, NSW was the state recording the largest rise in employment, which rose 27k, while jobs growth in Queensland also recorded solid growth. WA and Tasmania recorded small gains while employment in Victoria and SA dropped.

Leading indicators for the labor market have been more mixed lately. ANZ Job Ads dropped 1.7 percent in June and have been trending lower since the rise in January. However, the weak tone to the ANZ Jobs Ads data contrasts with the ABS vacancies data, which indicated a rise of 4.6 percent in job vacancies in the three months to May and imply solid downside risks to the jobless rate in the near term.

“Overall, leading indicators are pointing to ongoing strong growth in employment, although momentum looks to have slowed from the earlier robust pace as evidenced by our ANZ labour market indicator”, added ANZ.

At 13:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Australian Dollar was bearish at -90.1887, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was highly bullish at 163.827. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex