Unemployment falls to 5.5% in September

Unemployment falls to 5.5% in September


Australia's unemployment rate has equalled a four-year low after falling to 5.5 per cent in September and beating market expectations.
The rate, which has not been bettered on seasonally adjusted terms since February 2013, comes on the back of 19,800 jobs added in September, topping market predictions of a 15,000 rise.

The trend employment-to-population ratio, a measure of how employed the population aged 15 years and over is, increased by 0.7 percentage points to 61.6 per cent, the highest it has been since August 2012.
Among the states, NSW and Victoria led the gains, adding 21,100 and 8900 persons respectively on seasonally adjusted terms.

The numbers have now become so positive in NSW that economists are starting to call full employment, with a jobless rate of 4.6 per cent.
Full-time employment continued its strong run, rising by 6100, while the number of new part-time employees was up 13,700, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
"Full-time employment has now increased by around 271,000 persons since September 2016, and makes up the majority of the 335,000 person net increase in employment over the period," ABS chief economist Bruce Hockman said.

"The trend unemployment rate had been hovering in the range of 5.6 to 5.8 per cent for almost two years, but has now dropped to a four-year low of 5.5 per cent."

The participation rate - the number of people employed or actively looking for a job - was steady at 65.2 per cent.
Australia Pacific Indeed economist Callam Pickering described the figures as "an excellent set of numbers".
"Employment up by 23,000 people in September on a trend basis, up over 335,500 over the past year," he wrote shortly after their release.

CommSec economist Craig James said the good news kept flowing.
"More people are looking for work, more people are finding work, the lowest jobless rate for over four years," he said.
"And at the same time, the share of women participating in the job market is the highest on record."
He said unemployment was under 5 per cent in three of the nation's states and territories.
"In fact, the NSW job market could be considered at full employment now with a jobless rate of 4.6 per cent."
The Australian dollar ticked up by a fifth of a US cent to be fetching US78.65 cents at 1138 AEDT, from 78.48 US cents immediately before the 1130 AEDT data release, however, the sharemarket's strong push above 5900 points hit a wall and dropped around 10 points to just above 5900.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-...falls-to-55-in-september-20171019-gz3wvp.html