What is the state of Australian employment? Not that great, but it's not that bad either. The key thing for investors is knowing how it will affect the stock market.

One of the reasons why unemployment data is interesting is because it is backward-looking; while it tells us how many people are employed today, it reflects economic conditions from three or four months ago.

Consumers have just spent the most over the Christmas holiday period for five years. Credit:Erin Jonasson

So when we got unemployment data for December last week, it was really telling us about economic conditions from the time of the federal election. And conditions at that time were quite weak.

Consumer and business confidence was low. Investment decisions were still being delayed. Consumers were holding on to their money. But a lot has changed since then, most noticeably in the retail space where consumers have just spent the most over the Christmas holiday period for five years.