Australia: Unemployment rate remains unchanged as expected in February
Latest reading: The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was stable at January’s 4.1% in February, meeting market expectations. Still, the number of employed people fell by 52,800 in February in seasonally adjusted terms, swinging from the 30,500 increase recorded in January; both full-time and part-time employment declined in February.
Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted labor-force participation rate dropped to a nine-month low of 66.8% from January’s all-time high of 67.2%—surprising markets on the downside—while the underemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 5.9%.