Australia Posts Positive Employment Data
Thu, Jul 10 2008, 11:37 GMT
by Andrei Pehar
29,800 new jobs were created Down Under last month, a number
nearly three times the amount analysts had been expecting. 25,600 were
lost during the previous month. The overall unemployment rate dropped
slightly from 4.3% to 4.2%.
The employment news brings some light to an otherwise fairly negative week for
the continent, which saw consumer sentiment drop by another 6.7% (it
dropped 5.6% the prior month), and home loans drop by 7.9%, nearly
double past month's decline of 4.2% (a figure which already includes a
revision to the downside). Business confidence came it at -9, compared
with -4 the month before.
