Australia employment rose 60.6k in May, better than expectation of 25.0k. Full-time jobs rose 69.4k while part-time jobs dropped -8.7k. Unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.9%, above expectation of 3.8%. Participation rate rose 0.3% to 66.7%. Monthly hours worked rose 0.9% mom or 17m.
Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said: “The increase in May 2022 was the seventh consecutive increase in employment, following the easing of lockdown restrictions in late 2021. Average employment growth over the past three months (30,000) continues to be stronger than the pre-pandemic trend of around 20,000 people per month.
“In addition to the continuing trend of increasing employment, we have continued to see relatively stronger growth in hours worked. This is something we also saw this time last year, before the Delta outbreak.”
