UT, We didn't have to chirp up as there has been plenty of bear talk for everyone to see with us chiming in too. RE: the Unemployment figures - looks like there is a bit of spin going on with the hours worked down 14.8 million!
For real employment figures see http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2010/4464/
Australian unemployment rises in January up 102,000 to 875,000 (7.5%, up 0.7%) Unemployment is now 108,000 higher than January 2009 14.7% (1.720m, up 14,000) Australian workers are unemployed or under-employed
Finding No. 4464 - This Roy Morgan survey on Australias unemployment and under-employed* is based on weekly interviews covering January 2007 January 2010 and in total 160,817 Australians aged 14 and over were interviewed face-to-face including 4,190 interviews in January 2010.: February 05, 2010
In the month of January Australias total unemployment as measured by Roy Morgan was 875,000 (7.5%), up 102,000 (0.7%) since December, and up 108,000 since January 2009.
In January 2010 there were 7,492,000 (up 299,000 on December 2009 and up 297,000 on January 2009) Australians working full-time and 3,332,000 (down 136,000 on December 2009, but up a large 159,000 on January 2009) working part-time.
The latest Roy Morgan January 2010 unemployment estimate is 2% above the 5.5% currently quoted by the ABS for December 2009.
The Roy Morgan January 2010 under-employed* estimate is 845,000 (7.2%), down 87,000 (1.0%) on December 2009, but still up 62,000 on a year ago, January 2009.
In total in January 2010 an estimated 1,720,000 (14.7%) Australians were unemployed or under-employed, up 14,000 (but down 0.2% due to the increasing size of the workforce) on December 2009.
In January 2010 there were 485,000 (up 31,000 on December 2009, and up 70,000 on January 2009) Australians looking for full-time work and 390,000 (up 71,000 on December 2009, and up 38,000 on January 2009) Australians looking for part-time work.
