Australia’s November jobs soar, records 90,000 new employments

The employment figures for Australia rose by 0.7% for the month of November to 12,860,700 workers employed, highlighting an increase of 90,000 new employments, according to official labour force data.

The jobless rate for the month eased to 6.8%, the labour participation rate rose to 66.1%, while the monthly hours worked rose by 43 million hours, government data showed. 

The jobs statistic surpassed expectations, as economists polled by Reuters were predicting an increase of 50,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate hovering at 7%. 

Job gains in the country were led by Victoria state, which emerged from a COVID-19 induced lockdown in November. Of that, a total of 74,000 people were employed, following October’s increase of 82,000 people. 

Over Australia’s national lockdown period from March to May, jobs plunged by 872,000, but the country has since regained over 80% of the fall in numbers. 

READ: Australia’s recruitment rises by 6.2% in October

The Reserve Bank of Australia has also earlier declared that its monetary policy will focus on labour market changes, until the unemployment rate is below 6%. 

The central bank has slashed the cash rate to near zero and launched a A$100 billion quantitative easing programme to spur job creation.