Australia employment declined -14.6k in December, much worse than expectation of 21.2k growth. Full-time jobs rose 17.6k while part-time jobs fell -32.2k. Unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.5%. Participation rate dropped -0.2% to 66.6%. Monthly hours worked dropped -0.5%.
Lauren Ford, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said: “The falls in employment and hours worked in December followed strong growth through 2022, with an annual employment growth rate of 3.4 per cent and hours worked increasing by 3.2 per cent.
“The strong employment growth through 2022, along with high participation and low unemployment, continues to reflect a tight labour market.
“In December, we saw the number of people working reduced hours due to illness increasing by 86,000 to 606,000, which is over 50 per cent higher than we would usually see at this time of the year.”
ECB Knot: Don’t assume that it’s a one-shot 50; it’s more than that
ECB Governing Council member Klaas Knot told CNBC today, “Our president has already announced that most of the ground that we have to cover we will cover at a constant pace of multiple 50 basis-point hikes”
“So we will continue that at a steady pace. Based on the information that we have available today, that predicates another 50-basis-point rate hike at our next meeting, and possibly at the one after that, and possibly thereafter, but everything will also be determined by the review of data. So don’t assume that it’s a one-shot 50; it’s more than that,” he added.
Referring to recent market speculations that ECB will slow down rate hikes in March, Knot said, “The sort of market developments that I’ve seen over the last two weeks or so, are not entirely welcome… I don’t think that they are compatible, actually, with a timely return of inflation towards 2%.”
“Core inflation shows no signs of abating,” Knot said. “I would first need to see different dynamics in core inflation before I could start thinking about a more equal balance of risk.”