Australia labor market stays solid in January, employment change blows past expectations

Australia’s jobs market remains a bright spot for the economy, figures published by the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released soon before press time showed. 

Employment jumped by 39,100 in January, beating the estimated increase of 15,000 over the month, leaving the jobless rate unchanged at 5 percent. 

Notably, full-time jobs surged by 65,400, following the decline of 3,000 jobs in December, while part-time employment fell by 26,300, following the jump of 24,600 jobs in December. 

The upbeat data should comfort policymakers who are counting on sustained labor market strength to boost wage price inflation and consumption. 

January Key points (Source: ABS)

Trend estimates

• Employed persons increased 24,900 to 12,747,700. Full-time employed persons increased 16,800 to 8,737,400 and part-time employed persons increased 8,100 to 4,010,300.
• Unemployed persons increased 1,800 to 680,100.
• Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.1%.
• Participation rate remained steady at 65.7%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 1.6 million hours to 1763.2 million hours.

Sesaonally adjusted estimates

• Employed persons increased 39,100 to 12,751,800. Full-time employed persons increased 65,400 to 8,743,100 and part-time employed persons decreased 26,300 to 4,008,700.
• Unemployed persons increased 6,600 to 673,500.
• Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.0%.
• Participation rate increased 0.1 pts to 65.7%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 6.6 million hours to 1766.4 million hours.

Labor underutilization

• The monthly trend underemployment rate remained steady at 8.3%. The monthly underutilization rate remained steady at 13.3%.
• The monthly seasonally adjusted underemployment rate decreased 0.2 pts to 8.1%. The monthly underutilization rate decreased 0.1 pts to 13.2%.