The overall trend of a falling unemployment rate has remained intact, even as recent employment reports indicated employment creation had not been keeping up with the flow of new workforce entrants. The participation rate has been rising, typically a sign of confidence among prospective employees and contractors but then again, the underemployment rate has hardly budged. Recent leading indicators have not given economists much reason to expect the unemployment rate to fall.
May’s Labour force figures have now been released and they indicate the number of people employed in Australia has grown for a twelfth consecutive month after precious months’ figures were revised. The report shows the total number of people employed in Australia increased by a net 42,300 even though the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.2%.
