**As seen in Risk In The Week report 05/10/24, subscribe at cablefxm.co.uk/reports
The Australian labour market contracted by 6.6K jobs in March, this surprised the consensus median of +10.0K and showed a sharp reversal of the prior +116.5K. Full-time employment added 27.9K jobs in the month, the part-time sector shed the positions. The jobless rate ticked higher to 3.8% vs the estimate of 3.9%, the participation rate unexpectedly declined to 66.6% from the prior 66.7%. Looking ahead, economists expect a softer labour market in Australia as they pencil in the jobless rate to finish the year at 4.2%. However, wages are forecasted to keep rising at the same pace as last year at 3.8% Y/y.
Economists at Westpac warned that larger-than-usual seasonal volatility has created difficulties in predicting monthly moves in the jobs market, they flagged April as difficult given Easter and school holidays. Westpac expects the headline to rise 20.0K in April, which they noted as being below trend growth, their unemployment rate call sits at 3.9%.
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