Australian jobs report for December 2022
- part-time employment -32.2K
- underemployment rate 6.1% from prior 5.8%
- underutilisation rate 9.6% from 9.3%
- monthly hours worked decreased by 0.5% (the number of people working reduced hours due to illness increased by 86,000 to 606,000)
The labour market has been on a rip, but a net jobs loss in this December report.
JObs and jobless graphs:
Some slowing is no surprise given the series of Reserve Bank of Australia rate hikes. One of the intended aims of these hikes, harsh as it sounds, is a slowing of demand. this involves job losses and the tick higher in the jobless rate shows this. The November jobless rate was revised higher to 3.5% also. '
Inflation in Australia is still way, way above the RBA target band and I expect the Bank will hike its cash rate target again in February (the 7th is the meeting date) by 25bp.