Australia employment rose 88.7k in February, well above expectation of 31.5k. Full-time jobs grew 89.1k while part-time jobs dropped -0.5k. Unemployment rate dropped -0.5% to 5.8%, much lower than expectation of 6.3%. Participation rate rose 0.1% to 66.1%. Monthly hours worked rose 102m hours to 1.665m.
Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said “The strong employment growth this month saw employment rise above 13 million people, and was 4,000 people higher than March 2020.”
