The ABS has released its inaugural payrolls report containing new statistics on jobs and wages based on Single Touch Payroll data provided by the ATO. According to the ABS, “the estimates provide additional information on the economic impact of COVID-19 and complement monthly Labour Force statistics.”
Between the week ending 14 March and the week ending 4 April, the total number of work positions in Australia decreased by 6.0%. Total wages fell by 6.7% over the same period.
Most of the losses were in the week ending 4 April. Total jobs fell by 5.5% in that week alone, a large fall from the 0.5% fall in the week ending 28 March. Work in accommodation, restaurants, cafes, entertainment and recreation services was particularly hard-hit.
Chris Read, Morgan Stanley Australia’s equity strategist, noted the figures did not directly translate into additional unemployed persons but, if they had, “…a similar decline would imply an employment reduction of 780,000 workers. If all of these people were to stay in the labour force…this would imply the unemployment rate increasing from 5.2% to 10.3%.”
The figures came out on the same day as the release of the RBA’s April minutes and domestic Treasury bond yields moved in a somewhat haphazard fashion, taking little notice of moderate falls in US Treasury bond yields overnight. By the end of the day, 90-day bank bills and the 3-year ACGB yield were both unchanged at 0.13% and 0.26% respectively while the 10-year yield finished 2bps higher at 0.85% and the 20-year yield finished 1bp lower at 1.50%.