Australia employment grew 64.6k in February, well above expectation of 48.5k. Full-time employment rose 74.9k. Part-time employment decreased -10.3k.
Unemployment rate dropped from 3.7% to 3.5%, below expectation of 3.6%. Participation rate rose 0.1% to 66.6%. Monthly hours worked rose 3.9% mom.
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics said: “with employment increasing by around 65,000 people, and the number of unemployed decreasing by 17,000 people, the unemployment rate fell to 3.5 per cent. This was back to the level we saw in December.
“The February increase in employment follows consecutive falls in December and January. In January, this reflected a larger than usual number of people waiting to start a new job, the majority of whom returned to or commenced their jobs in February.
