There was a very high chance the Q3 labour market data, released today, would be outlandish. And so it proved to be. But no-one expected the data to verge on the ridiculous in the manner they did. This is not to question the validity of the data but to express concern that what we are witnessing may not be sustainable. What has bamboozled us the most is that employment rose 2.0% in the quarter despite over a third of the country being in lockdown for half of the survey period. Importantly, the increase in employment was driven by full timers (+2.3%) compared with a 0.3% drop in part time. Household Labour Force ... (full story)