Australia’s job market expanded again in May, with an extra 17,900 new jobs in net terms. The growth in employment and a steady participation rate at 64.9% kept the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate steady at 5.7%. The job figures were more than the 15000 expected but, as with the figures in April, the composition of the increase are a source of concern to analysts. Part-time jobs were entirely responsible for the increase but unlike April’s figures, full-time jobs remained steady in May. Monthly hours worked in all jobs rose by 27.7 million hours to 1,643.1 million hours.
Commonwealth Bank noted the downward revisions to previous months’ data. It also singled out a “sharp rebound” in reported hours worked but put this down to sampling process issues in April. With markets largely fixated on the upcoming “Brexit” vote, the numbers were largely ignored, although yields on 3 and 10 year bonds did fall 5bps and 7bps respectively on the day.
