Aussie Employment Bounces Back in June

Despite recent evidence of a slowdown in the Australian economy, the labour market showed resiliency in June, bouncing back from the job losses in May. From the abs:

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

EMPLOYMENT

• increased by 29,800 to 10,715,700. Full-time employment increased by 24,000 to 7,664,600 and part-time employment increased by 5,800 to 3,051,100.

UNEMPLOYMENT

• decreased by 2,800 to 473,800. The number of persons looking for full-time work decreased by 300 to 317,100 and the number of persons looking for part-time work decreased by 2,600 to 156,700.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

• decreased slightly to 4.2%. The male unemployment rate remained steady at 4.0%, and the female unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point to
  4.5%.

PARTICIPATION RATE

• increased by 0.1 percentage point to 65.3%.

It may seem surprising that employment continues to be strong in the face of recent contractionary service and manufacturing reports, 16 year lows in consumer sentiment and a declining real estate market.

However we should remember that employment is a lagging indicator and that firms don't really start laying people off on mass until the writing is well and truly on the wall.