**As seen in Risk In The Week report 02/09/24, subscribe at cablefxm.co.uk/reports
Australian economy shed 65.1K jobs in December, the number surprised economists' median expectation of +15.0K. This was the worst figure since late 2021, however, the full-time employment metric fell by 106.6K, the worst reading since the pandemic in 2020. Despite the softness in the labour change figures, the jobless rate printed at 3.9%, in line with expectations. The December labor participation rate fell to 66.8% from 67.1%. Economists at Westpac expect the January reading to hold a below-trend pace of job growth of 15.0K, this is more pessimistic than the consensus number. Westpac said that if the participation rate holds, the jobless rate could tick up to 4.0%, and the January forecast range goes from 3.8% to 4.1%.
Comments