Australian labor market continued to show strength in March, with employment growth significantly outperforming expectations. The strong employment data shows very few signs of weakness in the labor market, suggesting that RBA may need to resume tightening in May.
According to the today’s data, employment increased by 53k in seasonally adjusted terms, well above expectation of 20k gain. Full-time jobs saw an increase of 72.2k, while part-time employment declined by -19.2k.
Despite expectations of a rise to 3.6%, unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.5%. Additionally, the participation rate held steady at 66.7%, and monthly hours worked decreased by -0.2%. Lauren Ford, the ABS head of labor statistics, highlighted that the unemployment rate stayed at a near 50-year low of 3.5%.
Ford also noted that the employment-to-population ratio increased by 0.1 percentage point to 64.4%, with the participation rate remaining at 66.7%. Both indicators were close to their historical highs in November 2022, reflecting a tight labor market that has made it challenging for employers to fill the high number of job vacancies.
