Unemployment rate holds at 4.1pc

Employment eases

After April's bumper result (+88,000), the total number of employed persons dropped back by -2,500 in May 2025.

Still, full-time employment growth was strong enough - again - and the 3-month average employment gain remains very robust at +37,000. 

The participation rate declined a notch in May, and in turn the unemployment rate held at a still very low level of just 4.06 per cent, seasonally adjusted. 

There were also few signs of slack in the measures of underemployment.

Despite these apparently tight dynamics, wages growth has already been easing quite significantly, perhaps softened by strong population growth figures. 

The wrap

Overall, this was a soft-ish result with employment declining, and markets having expected a +20,000 employment gain, following on from the very weak GDP growth figures reported earlier this month. 

Other measures of labour force health, such as SEEK job advertisements, for example, appear to be slowing quite considerably.

As such, markets are leaning towards a further interest rate cut in July, with a 25 basis points cut about 80 per cent priced in.

James Foster dived into some more of the details around today's report here. 

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