CANBERRA: Australia is set for its best year of jobs growth since 2010 as weak wages and improving sentiment encourage businesses to hire, easing pressure on the central bank to add further stimulus to the economy.
Employers added 231,700 jobs in the first 10 months of the year, setting the labor force on track for its biggest annual gain since 2010, government data showed Thursday. Still, some economists expressed doubts about the accuracy of the October report, and the statistics bureau has in the past acknowledged problems with compiling jobs data.
Employment rose 58,600 from September; economists had forecast a 15,000 increase. Jobless rate dropped to 5.9 percent from 6.2 percent; economists had predicted 6.2 percent. Full-time jobs rose by 40,000; part-time employment increased by 18,600. Participation rate, a measure of labor force in proportion to the population, rose to 65.0 percent from 64.9 percent; economists predicted 64.9 percent.
The October data dovetails with strengthening consumer confidence and a surge in the housing construction and tourism industries that are soaking up former mine workers. It also backs the Reserve Bank of Australia’s view that the economy’s prospects have improved as it kept its record-low benchmark rate at 2 percent last week for a sixth straight month.
“Across the board with this data, every box has been ticked for a strong result and on this evidence the economy is doing pretty well,” said Stephen Walters, chief Australia economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Sydney. “It kills off talk of any near-term reduction in interest rates.”
