More jobs
Employment growth was solid in January, rising by a seasonally adjusted +17,800 to a new high of 14,703,800.
The result was driven by a strong +50k uplift in full-time employment.
The annual growth in employment has settled in at around +1 per cent, well down from the post-pandemic highs.
And the 3-month average change in employment slowed to +19,000.
The re-tightening of the labour market has been as much about supply, as demand.
Over the past year the participation rate has fallen from a high of 67.2 per cent to 66.7 per cent.
As such the number of unemployed persons fell for a 4th consecutive month, and the unemployment rate has held at a low 4.1 per cent through December and January.
Victoria has an unemployment rate of 4½ per cent, while most other states and territories are running at around 4 per cent or even lower.
The underemployment rate increased modestly from 5.7 per cent to 5.9 per cent in January, and the underutilisation rate rose slightly from 9.8 per cent 10 per cent.
What to make of it all?
A recent lift in job advertisements seems to have translated into some renewed strength in the jobs market.
Although the growth in employment at around +1 per cent over the past year is way short of the estimated growth in the civilian population aged 15 or over (which has surged by an estimated +1.8 per cent or +416,700), the participation rate has also fallen quite a lot from a year ago.
As such, while the United Kingdom has seen a worrying surge in youth employment and Canada has seen an alarming surge in its unemployment rate, Australia sits relatively pretty with an unemployment rate of just 4.1 per cent.
Yes, this has come at a cost - much of the jobs growth has been in healthcare, the public sector, and government-aligned roles, and inflation rate is now back above target - but it also puts policymakers in a pretty solid position to adjust course as required.
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