Employment crash
Employment crashed 146,300 lower in August, driven by a massive 172,800 or -4.2 per cent drop in New South Wales.
Queensland's lockdown also saw employment fall by -29,800 in the month.
Hours worked also crashed in sympathy, and the participation rate plunged to 65.2 per cent.
As an artefact of this the unemployment rate remained low at 4.5 per cent.
But there's nothing to be celebrated in these numbers, and the figures will be much worse for September and October too.
Melbourne has been in lockdown for a cumulative total of 228 days, so far - with practically no respite in sight - so it's delusional to think that this will have anything other than a catastrophic effect on many small and medium-sized businesses.
If it weren't illegal to do so, a drive through the south-east of the city would show many empty retail units and for lease signs everywhere.
Hopefully some better news soon.
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More detailed analysis from James Foster here.
