Australia: Jobs market starting to recover – ABS Survey

According to the findings of the Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Monday, the number of Australians employed is steadily increasing over the month to early May, as the lockdown restrictions ease out.

Key takeaways (via Associated Press)

“The proportion of people reporting they had a job had increased to 64.2%, up 0.8 percentage points over the month from the first week of April.

That proportion had been 66.2% in early-March, before strict social distancing measures to check the spread of coronavirus were imposed in late-March.

The proportion of people indicating they had worked paid hours also increased by 3.2 percentage points to 59%. It had been 64% in early March. 

The figures indicate some improvement in labor market conditions.

Nearly half of all Australians with jobs said they were working from home.”

AUD/USD reaction

The aussie dollar is seen easing from daily tops of 0.6452, tracking the minor pullback in gold prices and a recovery in the US dollar across the board.

At the press time, AUD/USD adds 0.32% to trade at 0.6435. The focus remains on US-China trade tensions and RBA May meeting’s minutes.