Australia’s job market portrayed a mixed picture in September, with a significant undershoot in employment growth countered by a lower-than-expected unemployment rate.
The country added a mere 6.7k jobs in the month, a far cry from the anticipated 20.3k. Delving deeper into the data, full-time employment took a hit, shrinking by -39.9k. However, this was partly offset by increase in part-time roles, which swelled by 46.5k.
Unemployment rate showed slight improvement, ticking down to 3.6% from previous 3.7%, despite expectations that it would remain steady. Yet, this decline could be attributed to a drop in participation rate, which receded from 67.0% to 66.7%. Meanwhile, total monthly hours worked contracted by -0.4% mom, equivalent to a reduction of 8 million hours.
Kate Lamb, ABS’s head of labour statistics, highlighted that, when considering the last two months, the average monthly employment growth stood at 35k, in line with the yearly average growth. However, Lamb also drew attention to the declining unemployment rate in September, indicating it primarily resulted from a shift of people from the unemployed category to being outside the labor force altogether.
Furthermore, she noted, “The recent softening in hours worked, relative to employment growth, may suggest an easing in labour market strength.”
