Employment Solutions

After five consecutive strong upside surprises in employment growth, a consolidation was seen in February.

Follow up:

The small 0.4k rise in total employment was the sixth consecutive increase with 6 month annualised growth a rapid 3.7% (highest since Sep 06)*.

The unemployment rate rose from 5.2% to 5.3% in February, as employers ran down the latent capacity of existing workers. The latest ABS figures have shown an increase of 11.4k full-time workers in and a decline in part-time workers of 11k in February. Aggregate monthly hours worked have also increased 35.9 million hours (2.4%) to 1,553.2 million hours in February - the jobs market is now turning towards consistent job gain, which means that employers are becoming more confident to hire and prepare for the better times ahead!

State employment trends:
New South Wales recorded the strongest jobs growth in February, with employment rising 13.6k. The rise was driven by part-time employment, with full-time jobs declining. New South Wales’ unemployment rate fell to 5.4%, the lowest since December 2008.

Queensland (+7.7k) and WA (+6.1k) also recorded strong rises in employment, though jobs growth in these regions was predominantly full-time.

After a very strong run over the past nine months Victoria shed 15.1k jobs.

South Australia also lost 5k jobs.

Unemployment rates rose in all states except NSW. Tasmanian and QLD’s unemployment rate rises were driven by increased participation rates.

Take care,

Leisa
Leisa Hart - Executive Leader Employment Solutions, Mission Australia

*Westpac Economic Research