ABS: Australian labor market rebound “remarkable”

In an exclusive interview with MNI, the head of labor data at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Bjorn Jarvis, said that the country's jobs market was "strong and tightening" after February recorded the lowest unemployment rate since 2008.

Additional quotes

February unemployment was 4.0%, equal to the rate in both February and August 2008, while the participation rate of 66.2% was the highest on record for the whole market, and for women at 62.4%.

'If you want to find unemployment at lower than 4.0% you must go back before the monthly series, and back to 1974.”

'The participation rate is now 0.6pps higher than at the start the pandemic for all persons, and 1.2pps higher for women.”

“The February labor force data was also significant because of the rise in full-time employment, with 122,000 positions added, while part-time work fell by 44,000.”

"There was also an 8.9% rebound in hours worked and that underpins the stronger full-time result,' he said.

'The remarkable thing through the pandemic is how quickly the labor market has rebounded and restrictions and we are still seeing that."

Read: Australian Employment data is solid and offering support to AUD

Market reaction

AUD/USD is consolidating post-Australian employment data-led gains above 0.7300. The pair is trading at 0.7311, up 0.31% on the day, as of writing.