Australia: Unemployment rate unchanged as expected in April
Latest reading: The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at March’s 4.1% in April and in line with market estimates. Still, the number of employed people rose by 89,200 in April in seasonally adjusted terms, above the 36,400 rise recorded in March, reaching a new all-time high of 14.64 million; both full-time and part-time employment increased in April.
Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted labor-force participation rate inched up to 67.1% from March’s 66.8%—surprising markets on the downside—while the underemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage points to 6.0%.