Australia employment market grew 22.6k in April (seasonally adjusted), slightly above expectation of 20.0k. Full time employment grew 32.7k while part time jobs dropped -10k. Unemployment rate rose 0.1% to 5.6%, above expectation of being unchanged at 5.5%. Participation rate rose to a further record high of 65.6%. ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman said “the labour force participation rate was the highest it has been since the series began in 1978, indicating increasing attachment to the labour force.”
Also from Australia consumer inflation expectation rose to 3.7% in May.
New Zealand PPI input slowed to 0.6% qoq in Q1 but beat expectation of 0.3% qoq. PPI output slowed to 0.2% qoq, in line with consensus.
