The headlines to the report are employment change and the unemployment rate, bolded below

Employment Change: +22.6K

  • expected +20.0K, prior -0.7K, revised from +4.9K

Unemployment Rate: 5.6%

  • expected 5.5%, prior 5.5%

Full Time Employment Change: +32.7K

  • prior was -25.1K, revised from -19.9K

Part Time Employment Change: -10.0K

  • prior was +24.4K (revised from +24.8K)

Participation Rate: 65.6%

  • expected 65.5%, prior was 65.5%

'Trend data':

trend participation rate increased to a further record high of 65.7 per cent in April

  • "The labour force participation rate was the highest it has been since the series began in 1978, indicating increasing attachment to the labour force," the Chief Economist for the ABS, Bruce Hockman, said.

trend employment increased by around 14,000

    • part-time employment increasing by 8,000
    • full-time employment by 6,000
  • Over the past year, trend employment increased by 355,000 persons or 2.9 per cent, which was above the average year-on-year growth over the past 20 years (2.0 per cent).

trend unemployment rate remained at 5.5 per cent

The trend hours worked increased by 4.7 million hours or 0.3 per cent in April 2018 and by 3.3 per cent over the past year.

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Not to bad a report at all. The ABS tells us to focus on the trend data ... but the market initially responds to the 'seasonally adjusted' (i.e. the bunch of numbers at the top of the post).

As I update the AUD/USD is barely changed.

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Yesterday we got wage price data from Australia, showing slow wage growth (a concern of the RBA, which along with high debt loads is weighing on consumer spending).

Jobs seem to be growing, but wages not so much. Which could very well make sense, if something gets cheaper that often prompts higher demand.