The ABS released the June Labour Force figures and, as with the May numbers, they were better than expected. The unemployment number came in at 6.0% as compared to the consensus expectation of 6.1% and May’s number has been revised down to 5.9% from the original 6.0% released a month ago. On top of these figures, the participation rate increased to 64.8% (seasonally adjusted) so the drop in unemployment does not appear to be a result of people giving up the search for work.
NSW and WA had the lowest rates of unemployment at 5.8% but WA’s rate deteriorated significantly from the 5.1% recorded in May. At the other end is SA and it suffered a further deterioration to 8.2% from the 7.6% recorded previously.
Commsec and ANZ said the latest ABS labour force figures were “better than expected”. CBA chief economist Michael Blythe said the figures indicated the economy was “in reasonable shape” while UBS believe the data will “give comfort to [the] RBA to hold rates”. However, UBS and others expressed some doubts over the statistical validity of the survey – doubts that have been dogging the ABS for nearly a year.