ABS Reports of Steady Pace for Aussie Jobless Rate
Thousands of jobs were created last month, leaving a steady pace so far for Australia's jobless rate but economists remain anxious of underlying weaknesses, the existence of which could be confirmed by the soon-to-be relased inflation figures.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the country's March jobless data settled at 5.2 per cent, seasonally revised and improving a bit from the earlier expectation of 5.3 percent while paving the way for the generation of some 44,000 more jobs in the month.
Only 6,000 jobs were expected by economists to be created, the ABS said, but March saw full-time employments secured by 15,800 workers while another 28,200 part-time slots were filled up.
By the end of the month, the ABS counted a total of 11,491,200 Australians, seasonally adjusted, as presently employed, according to Agence France Presse (AFP).
The latest job data, according to the federal government, reflected the 'outstanding achievement' of the domestic economy, considering that in many parts of the world jobs were hard to come by.
"The low unemployment rate here in Australia is a testament to the success of Labor's economic management and the resilience of our economy," Employment and Workplace Minister Bill Shorten told The Australian on Thursday.
The figures that the ABS furnished Thursday paint a welcome picture, Mr Shorten added, as Australia addresses the challenges of "ongoing global uncertainty and the difficult conditions facing some sectors, like the pressures from the high dollar and cautious consumer."
But RBC Capital Markets senior economist Su-Lin Ong remains cautious as she pointed to the likelihood that what transpired last month was a sub-trend and there exists a "particular weakness in the labour-intensive non-resource sectors of the economy."
Ms Ong is more inclined to believe that the economy will be too pressured to sustain even a steady pace and eventually the central bank will have to ease down on its policy by possibly cutting down the cash rate.
That scenario should play out by next month or in June, the RBC analyst predicted, in support of the snowballing calls for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to push down the cash rate and provide some breathing room for many sectors of the economy.
And if the inflation indicators were alarming enough, the RBA may finally relent and slash the existing 4.25 per cent interest rate, which has been the benchmark level since it was last reduced December last year.
Ms Ong told The Australian that RBA's downward adjustment should soon enough as she asserted "I can't see how we can keep generating this pace of jobs each month."
The government itself is anticipating a rise in unemployment, which it said should hit 5.5 per cent by the second half of 2012.