Unemployment spikes
It was a second soft month of net hiring for the Aussie economy, with full-time employment decreasing by a seasonally adjusted -38,200, and total employment effectively flat for a second consecutive month.
The figures this year have been pretty volatile, to be fair, so we probably wouldn't want to read too much into a single month of data.
And since April was such a large month for employment, the 3-month average employment gain remains pretty solid at +29k.
However, as the size of labour force continues to grow at a fair clip, the unemployment rate jumped from a seasonally adjusted 4.11 per cent to 4.32 per cent in June.
The unemployment rate has thus continued to rise from a cycle low of around 3½ per cent in 2022 to now hit the highest level since 2021.
Meanwhile, youth unemployment (15-24 year olds) leapt from 9.5 per cent to 10.4 per cent, which was also the highest level since 2021.
The underutilisation rate rose from 10 per cent to 10.3 per cent, as jobs market slack increased.
Hours worked over the month fell by -0.9 per cent.
The wrap: no panicking yet...
Overall, this was a significantly softer than expected labour force survey release, both for employment and particularly for the unemployment rate, which suddenly jumped to the highest level in the 43 months since the equivalent unemployment rate seen in late 2021.
These figures will be slightly concerning to the Reserve Bank, with the Board having opted to hold interest rates in a split decision last month.
But still there will be keen interest in the inflation figures for the June quarter before interest rates are eased any further.
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