Australian employment growth is slowing sharply in early 2018. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), employment rose by 4,900 in seasonally adjusted terms, missing expectations for an increase of 20,000. Full-time employment fell by 19,900 to 8.51 million, masked by an increase in part-time employment which rose by 24,800 to 3.9 million. Combined, total employment now stands at 12.484 million. Mirroring the small increase in employment, total hours worked increased by 4.5 million hours to 1.74 million hours. This followed an increase of 22 million hours in February. On top of the underwhelming March ... (full story)