Aussie Employment drops in November

Australian employment fell in November for only the third time in the last 18 months in November according to an abs report today:

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

EMPLOYMENT

decreased by 15,600 to 10,750,000. Full-time employment increased by 8,800 to 7,695,300 and part-time employment decreased by 24,400 to 3,054,600.



UNEMPLOYMENT

increased by 7,900 to 496,600. The number of persons looking for full-time work increased by 5,900 to 344,700 and the number of persons looking for part-time work increased by 2,000 to 151,900.



UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

increased by 0.1 percentage point to 4.4%. The male unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point to 4.1%, and the female unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point but in rounded terms remained at 4.8%.



PARTICIPATION RATE

decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 65.1%.

That long downward sloping unemployment rate that we have gotten used to seeing is is in for a sharp turnaround in the next 12 months. Morgan Stanley are predicting an Australian unemployment rate of 9% sometime in 2010, that may seem extreme now but it is not out of the realm of possibility.