Australia`s unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points in March to 5.0 percent seasonally adjusted, but analysts said the rise in full-time workers should be enough to temporarily ease the Fed`s pressure to cut interest rates.
Part-time employment fell by 22600, but full-time employment rose by 48300 that month, according to figures released Thursday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. And the total number of unemployed increased by 17100, to a total of six hundred and eighty thousand.
(photo source: Yahoo News)
Sarah Hunter, an economist at BIS Oxford, said the latest figures were in line with market expectations, suggesting that the job market was "fundamentally healthy" and would ease the pressure on the Australian Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. The Federal Reserve has continued to cut interest rates from a record low of 1.5 percent.
"the minutes of the board meeting in April confirm that they have been fully focused on the health of the labour market as a key indicator of economic activity," Hunter said.
"the committee also said they need to see inflation stabilise at 2-3 percent, and that the core inflation index, published next week, will have an important impact on their judgment."
(photo source: Web)
Meanwhile, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percent to 8.2 percent in March, with 1.1 million unemployed.
At the same time, employment rose 0.2 percentage points to 13.2 percent, while the participation rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 65.7 percent, close to an all-time high.
Overall employment in Queensland grew the most, to 10400, followed by 10, 000 in Victoria. New South Wales fell the most by 2600, followed by Tata by 1800.
Unemployment among 15-to 24-year-olds rose from 11.1 percent to 11.7 percent, bringing the total to 259100.
(photo source: Web)
After the data were released, the Australian dollar jumped to a intraday high of 71.93 cents against the dollar before falling to 71.82 cents.
