Australia's trend participation rate increased to 66.0 per cent in June 2019 according to the latest information released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman said, "Australia's participation rate was at 66 per cent in June 2019, which means nearly two of every three people are currently participating in the labour market. " "The participation rate for 15 to 64 year olds was even higher and closer to four out of every five people, " said Mr Hockman. The trend unemployment rate remained steady at 5.2 per cent from a revised May figure. Employment and hours In June 2019, trend ... (full story)

The Australian Dollar Gained Thursday despite a big miss for June’s official headline job creation, as full-time roles gained strongly and overall participation held up. Just 500 new jobs were created overall, well below even the modest 9,000 gain expected. However full-time roles grew by 21,100 while part time jobs fell by 21,600. Rightly or wrongly the market is always cheered by full-time rises. Moreover, that participation rate was steady at 66%, while the overall unemployment rate stayed at 5.2%. The Reserve Bank of Australia is known to be watching the domestic labor market especially closely in its monetary ... (full story)