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Australia’s employment growth decelerated in June, coming slightly below consensus expectations. Employment increased 8000 in June, or 0.07 percent, in line with the average growth rate over the last six months, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Trend full-time employment increased 700 persons after declining for the previous four months. Part-time employment rose by 7,600 persons, its weakest monthly growth since August 2014.
“The figures show that hours worked by employed people declined, but not by as much as in previous months. This reflects the small increase in trend employment. We are yet to see an increase in hours worked in 2016,” stated ABS Macroeconomic Statistics Division General Manager Bruce Hockman.
Unemployment in the country grew higher in the month. The jobless rate rose to 5.8 percent. Seasonally adjusted full-time jobs increased strongly by 38,000, whereas part-time jobs declined 31,000. However, there has been a considerable slowdown in the jobs growth. For the past six months, employment in the country has increased on average of 7000 every month, as compared with 30,000 per month in the earlier six months.
Region wise, the strength of jobs growth was focused in Victoria and NSW. However, in Queensland, employment declined for five consecutive months. Moreover, trend is weak in Tasmania and Western Australia. There are mixed forward indicators for the labor market, noted ANZ in a research report.
ANZ job ads growth decelerated in June and the tracking of daily SEEK job ads implies that trend softened noticeably in early July, according to ANZ. On the contrary, measures of profitability and capacity utilization in the business surveys indicate towards a strong labor market.
Meanwhile, St George Economics in a research report noted that the unemployment rate is expected to remain broadly stable for the rest of 2016. This suggests monthly gains in employment between 10,000 and 15,000 per month, which is a bit higher than the current rate of lower than 10,000 per month, added St George Economics.
“Steady growth in job ads and ongoing reports of above average business conditions suggests that such an improvement is in prospect. Our expectation that the economy will grow close to trend also supports the view that the unemployment rate should track sideways this year”, said St George Economics.
