Australia Added More Jobs In November

Australia Added More Jobs In November by Adam Rosen last updated on December 21, 2023

Australian Economy Added 61.5K Jobs In November

Australia's job market remained strong during November, which is a sign of robust demand for skilled workers. However, the data also showed an uptick in the unemployment rate along with a reduction in the number of 'hours worked'.

Overall, 61,500 jobs were added to Australia's economy, according to the official data from the statistics bureau. Conversely, the forecast was only for 11K jobs, which means the Australian labor market is a lot more resilient than initially thought.

3.9% Unemployment Rate In Australia

Analysts believe that the better-than-expected job data was due to the higher participation rate. Right now, 67.2% of the Australian population is of working age and is actively seeking work.

Other data from Australia shows that although the labor market is still strong, it is now showing signs of cooling down. For example, the unemployment rate in Australia is now 3.9%, which was around 3.8% last month. Similarly, the monthly hours logged by the workers also showed signs of stagnation.

According to one expert, the reduction in working hours is a sign that the employment rate and the growth rate are similar to what we have seen in the last 1.5 years. This is a clear sign that the labor market of Australia is not as strong as it was in the last few quarters.

Despite the uptick in the unemployment rate, it is still at historic lows (40 years), which means it will likely go a little higher in the near future.

According to the RBA, the actions taken to control inflation have led to the current situation in the labor market. However, the one worrying factor is that inflation in Australia is still proving to be very difficult to control and is still out of RBA's comfort zone.

So if the current pace of inflation continues in 2024, it would force the RBA to take action by hiking the policy rate once again.