Australia's Nov employment report beats estimates by a large margin

The Australian employment change s.a. for November came in at 61.6k, above forecasts of +18k and prior of 3.7k, with the unemployment rate s.a. at 5.4 % vs forecasts of 5.4% and 5.4% last. Fulltime employment stood at 41.9k vs previous 24.7 k, while part-time employment 19.7k from previous -20.3k. The participation rate was 65.5% vs expected 65.1% and prior of 65.1%.

Nov key points

TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE) 

• Employment increased 22,200 to 12,380,100.
• Unemployment decreased 2,900 to 707,300.
• Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.4%.
• Participation rate increased less than 0.1 pts to 65.4%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 3.8 million hours (0.2%) to 1,734.4 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE) 

• Employment increased 61,600 to 12,403,000. Full-time employment increased 41,900 to 8,501,900 and part-time employment increased 19,700 to 3,901,100.
• Unemployment increased 4,100 to 707,700. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work increased 2,500 to 489,900 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work increased 1,700 to 217,800.
• Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.4%.
• Participation rate increased 0.3 pts to 65.5%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 9.8 million hours (0.6%) to 1,740.9 million hours.

LABOUR UNDERUTILISATION (QUARTERLY CHANGE)

• Trend estimates: the labour force underemployment rate decreased by 0.2 pts to 8.4%. The underutilisation rate decreased by 0.3 pts to 13.8%.
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: the labour force underemployment rate decreased 0.2 pts to 8.3%. The underutilisation rate decreased by 0.3 pts to 13.7%.