I'm assuming everyone is familiar with the exchange rate between words and pictures
Here are the two pics, both graphs from today's release;
The lines to focus on are the 'trend':
- Employed persons is getting higher, but the rate of gain is too slow for the RBA to comfortable
- And that unemployment trend ... yuck ... turned higher
Why focus on the 'trend' ... here's the Australian Bureau of Statistics:
- The trend "smooth the more volatile seasonally adjusted estimates and provide the best measure of the underlying behaviour of the labour market"
There you go.
More info at the post I did earlier, here: Australia data: (Jan) Employment change +13.5K (vs. +10K expected)
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Oh ... and more ...
Employment is generally accepted as a lagging indicator of economic growth. If that's the case then it should pick up in coming months. There are some positive signs about on the Australian economy, notably the surging business conditions and confidence: Australia January Business Confidence: 10 (prior 6) & Conditions: 16 (prior 11)
