The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday the country lowered unemployment to 5.1% for January 2012 with full-time and part-time positions adding 12,300 and 34,000 respectively (46,300 jobs). The number of additional jobs beat economists’ expectations of 10,000 and were the biggest monthly additions since November of 2010. Additionally, from 5.2% in December, the .1% decrease to the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate came out better than analysts’ projections of an increase to 5.3%. The positive figures reinforce the Reserve bank of Australia’s (R.B.A.) view that the economy is showing signs of growth and decision to leave the country’s overnight cash rate unchanged was justified. Individuals seeking employment rose to 65.3% in January, 0.1% more than in the previous month. The number of hours worked by the employed for January lowered by a seasonally adjusted 1.4% after it had increased 0.2% in December.
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Yet, compared to January last year the number of hours worked rose 0.2%. Total employment increased to 11,464,000 during the month. The increase has not changed the overall trend and remains relatively weak with annual growth at only a 0.3% increase. Additionally, as the R.B.A. purports economic strengthening other factors such as high job vacancies and few job advertisements suggest the view is not wholly founded. "Looking ahead, these labour market reports are expected to soften somewhat as official employment data start to capture the announced job loses in the banking industry, manufacturing and now airlines," TD Securities analyst, Annette Beacher stated in a note on the release.
The AUDUSD has rallied despite weakness in global risk sentiment. The pair has rallied over a 1000 pips since November 25th. The Aussie is currently consolidating near 1.0700 but we see further upside. We expect the pair to target 1.1000 once a permanent resolution is reached over the Greek crisis.
Eugene Ross, Analyst
Admiral Markets
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