Australia: New jobs jump in August
Seasonally-adjusted employment increased by 44,000 in August compared to the previous month, following the revised 4,300 jobs shed in July (previously reported: -3,900 jobs) and easily overshooting analysts’ expectations for a gain of 15,000. August’s reading was driven by an increase of both part-time and full-time workers.
Seasonally-adjusted unemployment remained stable at July’s six-year low of 5.3% in August. Meanwhile, the trend participation rate inched up from 65.6% in July to 65.7%, nearly matching the record high recorded in January. Adding to the good news, the quarterly seasonally-adjusted underemployment rate dropped by 0.3 percentage points to 8.1%, a potentially encouraging development for wage growth going forward. Recently released data on quarter-on-quarter wage growth in Q2 shows that the pace of growth in salaries, although still unremarkable, gained strength thanks to strong demand for labor.