Updated
Australia’s unemployment rate has edged back up to 5 per cent, despite another strong month of job creation.
Key points:
- In seasonally adjusted terms 48,300 new jobs were created in March, while 22,600 part-time jobs were shed
- The unemployment rate edged up 0.1 per cent from an eight year low of 4.9 per cent as more people looked for work
- Measures of workforce slackness were largely unchanged keeping a lid on future wage growth
The slight rise in seasonally adjusted terms can be attributed to more people looking for work.
In trend terms, the unemployment rate has now held steady at 5 per cent for five months.
The good news in the figures was the bulk of the jobs were full-time positions.
Full-time work increased by 48,300, while 22,600 part-time jobs were lost.
No pressure to lift wages
However, the less positive news was the key measures of slackness in the workforce remain largely unchanged, meaning there is little in way of pressure to lift wages in the figures.
The underutilisation rate — a measure of both the unemployed and workers looking for more hours — remained stuck at 13.2 per cent.
Alex Joiner, economist with IFM, said while employment growth remained solid, population growth and more people looking for work made it difficult to cut the unemployment rate and push up wages.
“Strong population growth and elevated participation rates continue to be a double-edge sword for the RBA, they boost GDP growth but make it more difficult to get a tight enough labour market to push wages growth higher,” Dr Joiner said.
More to come.
Topics:
business-economics-and-finance,
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