Australia December employment change beats estimates, jobless rate ticks higher

Omkar Godbole FXStreet Contributor

The data released by Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed the economy added 34.7K jobs in December vs. forecast of 9K. The previous month's print was revised higher to 63.6K from 61.6K. Full-Time employment change came in at 15.1k in December versus 41.9k in November. Meanwhile, the jobless rate rose to 5.5 percent from 5.4 percent.

December Key Points (Source: ABS)

TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

Employment increased 25,000 to 12,419,800.
Unemployment increased 100 to 715,000.
The unemployment rate decreased by less than 0.1 pts to 5.4%.
Participation rate remained steady at 65.5%.
Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 4.0 million hours (0.2%) to 1,738.4 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

Employment increased 34,700 to 12,440,800. Full-time employment increased 15,100 to 8,518,900 and part-time employment increased 19,500 to 3,921,800.
Unemployment increased 20,500 to 730,600. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work increased 9,900 to 501,800 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work increased 10,600 to 228,800.
Unemployment rate increased 0.1 pts to 5.5%
Participation rate increased by 0.2 pts to 65.7%.
Monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased 4.2 million hours (0.2%) to 1,736.4 million hours.

Author

Omkar Godbole

FXStreet Contributor

Omkar Godbole, editor and analyst, joined FXStreet after four years as a research analyst at several Indian brokerage companies.

EUR/USD risks a deeper drop below 1.1750

EUR/USD keeps its vacillating mood in place as the the NA session drwas to a close on Tuesday, hovering below the 1.1800 hurdle amid acceptable gains in the US Dollar. In the meantime, market participants and the FX galaxy are expected to closely follow President Trump’s SOTU speech around 2AM GMT.

GBP/USD regains 1.3500 and above

GBP/USD extends its advance for the third day in a row on Tuesday, this time retesting the area beyond the 1.3500 hurdle. Cable’s uptick comes despite decent gains in the Greenback and the dovish message from the BoE’s Bailey at the UK Parliament.

Gold appears offered around $5,150

Gold is giving back a good portion of the recent multi-day rally, receding to the $5,150 zone per troy ounce amid the decent bounce in the US Dollar and mixed US Treasuty yields. In the meantime, markets’ attention remain on upcoming comments from Fed speakers.

Australia CPI to highlight persistent price pressures, backing a hawkish outlook

Australia will release its key set of inflation figures for the month of January on Wednesday, with the Consumer Price Index expected to rise by 3.7%, slightly lower than the 3.8% in the last month of 2025.

The Citrini report: How a debatable AI narrative can shake Wall Street

That AI-related headline alone was enough to rattle investors.US stocks slid sharply on Monday after a widely circulated Citrini Research memo outlined a hypothetical “2028 Global Intelligence Crisis”, warning that rapid AI adoption could push US unemployment into double digits as early as by mid-2028.

XRP pressured by weak ETF flows and declining retail interest

Ripple (XRP) is edging lower, trading above its intraday low of $1.32 at the time of writing on Tuesday. The decline from its weekly opening of $1.39 reflects heightened volatility in the broader cryptocurrency market, accentuated by tariff-triggered uncertainty.