Solid Australian employment gains likely

Australian employment data poses upside risk for the AUD this week.

It is assumed that the recent government changes to job search requirements for some welfare recipients do not materially affect the unemployment rate.

"A solid gain is likely in the employment of 25K with unemployment ticking down to 6.1% which is due on Thursday, consensus expectations are at 6.2%", forecasts Barclays. 

Separate to this administrative change, the fundamentals are improving, with rising job vacancies and increased capacity utilisation pointing to the risk of lower unemployment over the coming months.