Little in Australia jobs report to suggest RBA is closer to cutting – TD Securities

Analysts at TD Securities don’t think that the latest employment data from Australia will bring the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) closer to lowering its policy rate.

Australian labour market remains tight with

“Australian headline employment fell 6.6k in March, softer than the +10k consensus and TD’s +18k f/c. Given the significant increase in jobs posted in February, a much larger giveback could have happened, so the 6.6k drop is not too bad.”

“Driving the negative print was the 34.5k drop in part time but full time rose 27.9k (this is strong) while there were upward revisions to headline and full time for February. Seasonally adjusted monthly hours worked rose by 0.9%. The participation rate dropped from 66.7% to 66.6%, helping to limit the back up in the unemployment rate from 3.7% to 3.8%.”

“Overall today’s report supports the call that the Australian labour market remains tight with employment growth of 2.4% YoY, the employment-to-population ratio and participation rates still close to their November record highs. There is little in today’s report to suggest the RBA is closer to cutting.”