Unemployment jumps to 5.9pc with 6,400 jobs lost: ABS

Updated

Unemployment climbed from 5.7 to 5.9 per cent in February as an estimated 6,400 jobs were lost over the month.

Key points: ABS shows 6,400 jobs lost in February and a 1.2pc fall in hours worked

Underemployment rises back to record high of 8.7pc

Youth unemployment rises back to 13.3pc

The news was not all bad, however, with full-time work rising by an estimated 27,100 jobs, while it was a 33,500-strong fall in part-time workers that drove the decline.

However, economists said the bounce in full-time jobs looks more like a statistical blip than a new trend.

"The rebound in full-time jobs in February followed an extremely weak January and doesn't make up for the losses in January," said RBC's Su-Lin Ong.

"If you look at the overall trend in full-time employment it is very weak and it's contracted over the last twelve months."

Furthermore, despite the increase in full-time work, the ABS recorded a 1.2 per cent slide in total hours worked last month to 1.66 billion.

However, the participation rate remained steady at 64.6 per cent in a sign that people are not being deterred from the labour market by their inability to find work.

The Bureau of Statistics also highlighted the more stable trend numbers, which smooth out monthly statistical volatility and showed that unemployment remained steady at 5.8 per cent.

"Over the past year, we have continued to see a relatively steady trend unemployment rate between 5.7 per cent and 5.8 per cent," noted the bureau's acting head of macroeconomics, Jacqui Jones.

Also steady has been underemployment, which returned to a record high of 8.7 per cent, first set August 2016.

"The underemployment rate is still at a historically high level for Australia, but has been relatively unchanged over the past two years," added Ms Jones.

Youth unemployment for people aged 15-24 years also bounced back after a big fall in January - 13.3 per cent of young people in the labour force are without work, with joblessness in this group stuck between about 12-14 per cent for the past three-and-a-half years.

The headline unemployment and jobs result was much weaker than most economists had expected, with the Reuters survey ahead of the release showing a forecast of 16,000 jobs added.

"This is a much weaker than expected result and we would argue confirms that the labour market, as reported by the labour force survey, is on a much softer than expected trend," wrote Westpac economist Justin Smirk in a note.

The weakness was evidenced by a fall in the Australian dollar, which eased to 76.8 US cents, having traded above 77 earlier in the morning.

Topics: economic-trends, unemployment, australia

First posted