Australian Unemployment Rate steadies at 3.9% in May vs. 3.8% expected

The Australian Unemployment Rate arrived at 3.9% in May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed in its latest data published on Thursday. In April, the jobless rate hit the lowest since 1974 at 3.9%. The market consensus was for a drop to 3.8% in the reported month.

The economy created a massive 60.6K jobs in May vs. +25K expected and +4K reported in April. The country’s Full-Time Employment for May came in at 69.4K vs. 92.4K while the Part-Time Jobs figures arrived at -8.7K when compared to April’s -88.4K.

The Participation Rate rose to 66.7% vs. 66.4% expected and 66.3% last.

Market reaction

AUD/USD kept its range around 0.7025 in an immediate reaction to the mixed Australian jobs report.

Why Australian employment data matters to traders?

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publishes an overview of trends in the Australian labor market, with uthe nemployment rate a closely watched indicator. It is released about 15 days after the month end and throws light on the overall economic conditions, as it is highly correlated to consumer spending and inflation. Despite the lagging nature of the indicator, it affects the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) interest rate decisions, in turn, moving the Australian dollar. Upbeat figure tends to be AUD positive.