New numbers show that the unemployment rate in Australia has remained steady at 4.1%.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) report for January found that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was steady for the month of January, with very little change.
Youth underemployment was up by one percentage point to 14.8%, underemployment and underutilisation both rose slightly by 0.2 percentage points to 5.9% and 10% respectively.
Full-time hours worked were up by 0.7%, but part-time hours only increased 0.1%
Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said: “Employed people grew by 18,000. Full-time employment rose by 50,000 people, partly offset by a fall of 33,000 people in part-time employment.”
Markets had been expecting an addition of 20,000 jobs.
ANZ analysts commented on the result: "Today’s labour market data has not led to a change in our RBA view. That said, the data is likely to reinforce the RBA’s thinking that the labour market remains a little tight.
“In the February meeting minutes, the RBA Monetary Policy Board noted that the conditions in the labour market suggested that monetary policy was not restrictive overall.”
