The data from the ABS today shows an unchanged headline unemployment rate of 5.6%. However, trend employment decreased 1,000 to 11,946,600 and unemployment decreased 4,100 to 708,600. The participation rate decreased 0.1 pts to 64.5%. The monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 3.2 million hours to 1668.0 million hours.
We see more choosing to sit out of the market all together, and continued under utilisation. So while the headline is OK, the employment market dynamics remain a concern.
Note that last month the ABS observed that the incoming rotation group was considerably different to the rest of the Queensland sample and its influence was reduced as part of the estimation process.
The ABS has further reviewed the treatment of September’s incoming rotation group in Queensland and confirmed that the characteristics observed in September are relatively consistent with those observed in October, suggesting that last month’s data were representative of the new group. Its influence has therefore been restored, resulting in revisions to September estimates for Queensland and (to a lesser extent) Australia.
