Labour market report of Australia in December 2017 - jobs have been on a surge

Employment Change +34,700 ....... a huge beat

  • expected 15.0K, prior revised higher to 63.6K from 61.6K

Unemployment Rate 5.5%, miss

  • expected 5.4%, prior 5.4%

Full Time Employment Change +15.1K

  • prior was 43.6K, revised up from 41.9K

Part Time Employment Change +19.5K

  • prior was 20K, revised up from 19.7K

Participation Rate 65.7% ... more people joining the labour market

  • expected is 65.5%, prior was 65.5%

The above are the seasonally adjusted results, which are the market focus, but the 'trend' data is worth paying heed to. I'll get that popped up ASAP ... here we go, verbatim from the ABS:

  • Monthly trend full-time employment increased for the 14th straight month
  • Full-time employment grew by a further 17,000
  • part-time employment increased by 8,000 persons
  • total increase in employment of 25,000 persons
  • "Full-time employment has now increased by around 322,000 persons since December 2016, and makes up the majority of the 393,000 net increase in employment over the period," the Chief Economist for the ABS, Bruce Hockman, said.
  • Over the past year, trend employment increased by 3.3 per cent, which is above the average year-on-year growth over the past 20 years (1.9 per cent)
  • The last time it was 3.3 per cent or higher was in September 2005.
  • The trend monthly hours worked increased by 4.0 million hours (0.2 per cent), with the annual figure also reflecting strong growth over the year (3.6 per cent)
  • The labour force participation rate remained at 65.5 per cent after the November 2017 number was revised up, the highest it has been since March 2011

These are great jobs numbers from Australia.

The prospects of RBA rate cuts are becoming more and more distant.

Nevertheless, after an initial pop the AUD/USD is back on its session lows. Not an encouraging response for the bulls.