Australia’s jobless rate has fallen to 4.2 per cent, but the Reserve Bank is unlikely to be overly concerned that the jobs market is tightening further.
The 0.1 per cent drop in July, as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday, was in line with market expectations.
About 25,000 jobs were added to the economy, slightly higher than expected, while the number of unemployed people decreased by 10,000.
Growth in unemployment was driven by full-time jobs, which increased by 60,000, while part-time employment fell 36,000.
The underlying trend in employment growth has been faster than the rise in population for most of the past year, but in recent months the two were growing at roughly the same rate, said ABS head of labour statistics Sean Crick.
The unemployment rate aligns with the Reserve Bank’s forecast for the June quarter, which was released on Tuesday.
After a surprise 0.2 per cent jump in unemployment in June, economists noted the rise was partly due to a sub-sample with a higher-than-average unemployment rate being rotated into the survey.
So while the modest reversal in Thursday’s print is a further sign of the resilience of Australia’s labour market, it doesn’t necessarily indicate conditions are tightening again.
Indeed, RBA governor Michele Bullock noted various indicators suggest conditions in the labour market had eased in recent months.
“There’s some sense in which the labour market is easing. There are some indicators that we think suggest that things are still a little bit on the tight side,” she told reporters after the central bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points on Tuesday.
“If we can maintain where we are I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”
The participation rate remained at a relatively high 67 per cent.
Female full-time workers grew by 40,000, double the amount of new male full-time workers, with the female participation rate reaching a record high.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Australia’s economy was making encouraging progress, with inflation down, interest rates falling and the labour market in good health.
“Under the Albanese Labor government, we have seen the lowest average unemployment rate of any government, in the last 50 years,” Dr Chalmers said ahead of the ABS release.
Source: AAP
