Australia’s unemployment rate rises to 5% in March

Australia's trend unemployment rate increased slightly in March 2019 to 5%, according to information released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The unemployment data came in better than expected among some analysts, while others were expecting the figures.

‘In trend terms, we've now seen the unemployment rate at 5.0 per cent for five months and the participation rate holding steady at 65.6 per cent.’ Said, ABS Labour Statistics Program Manager Bjorn Jarvis.

Australian dollar price

The Australian dollar jumped immediately off the back of the jobs data, inching to $0.7200 briefly, climbing to session highs.

ABS data shows that while unemployment rate stayed close to 5%, participation rate lifted to 65.7% from 65.6%, while 25.7 thousand jobs were added to the economy in March.

Full-time employment increased by 18,000 persons and part-time employment increased by 3,000 persons.

Over the past year, trend employment increased 2.4 % above the average annual growth over the past 20 years of 2%.

Over the year, the unemployment rate fell in all states and territories except for Tasmania, the Northern Territory and South Australia.

According to ABS figures, the trend monthly underemployment rate remained steady at 8.2% in March 2019 and decreased by 0.4% points over the year.

Reserve bank of Australia in focus

Analysts will be looking towards the Reserve bank of Australia (RBA) after the unemployment figures rekease, watching for a change in the next interest rate decision. It comes after RBA minutes were released on Tuesday, indicating a rate cut could be probable if the unemployment rate trended higher.

However, analysts suggest the RBA might not see March jobs data as a significant and may not adjust the next rate cut accordingly.