Australia employment grew strongly by 111k to 12.6m in August, much better than expectation of -40k contraction. Full-time jobs rose 36.2k to 8.58m. Part-time jobs rose 74.8k to 4.00m. Unemployment rate dropped notably by 0.7 pts to 6.8%, much better than expectation of 7.8%. Participation rate also rose 0.1% to 64.8%. Monthly hours worked in all jobs also rose 1.6m hours to 1683 hours.
All states and territories recorded increases in the number of employed people except for Victoria. The number of employed people in Victoria decreased by 42,400. In contrast, New South Wales recorded an increase of 51,500 employed people and there was an increase of 32,200 employed people in Western Australia. Unemployment rates decreased in most states and territories. The largest falls were seen in Northern Territory (down 3.3 pts to 4.2%). Increases were recorded in Victoria (up 0.4 pts to 7.1%) and Tasmania (up 0.3 pts to 6.3%).
