Australian Dollar Weakens Amid Virus Fears
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian dollar declined against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Thursday, as virus worries intensified after the global Covid-19 cases topped 138 million and the deaths surged to more than 2.97 million, prompting governments around the world to announce new restrictions on mobility.
A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel on Wednesday postponed making a recommendation about the continued use of the Johnson & Johnson s Covid-19 vaccine, saying that panel members want more information about the people who may be most at risk for blood clots.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell told the Economic Club of Washington on Wednesday that the central bank will taper its asset purchases before considering raising interest rates.
Australian jobs numbers for March show signs of recovery
Sebastian Bowen | April 15, 2021 1:04pm |
More on: Image source: Getty Images
The Australian economy is exceedingly healthy today if the latest jobs figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) are to be believed. The ABS’s labour figures for the month of March were particularly anticipated. That’s because they cover the final month of the JobKeeper payment (which ended on 28 March).
So without further ado, let’s dive into what the ABS has told us today.
According to the Bureau, the unemployment rate decreased over the month of March to 5.6%. That’s down 0.2% from the 5.8% figure we saw for February. The number of unemployed people in Australia declined from 805,200 in February to 778,100 in March, a decrease of 27,100. That means there are now 13,077,600 employed people in the country as of March, up from 13,006,900 in February.
4/15/2021 8:48:55 AM GMT
AUD/USD, H4
The Australian Dollar recorded a strong gain in trading yesterday, gaining around 1.14% against the US Dollar. Currently, AUDUSD is trading around 0.7750, leaving room for a rally of around 100 pips towards the average resistance level of 0.7848.
Employment in Australia rose 70.7k between March and February 2021, well above market expectations of 35k, reflecting a further recovery in the labor market. Part-time jobs rose 91.5k while full-time jobs fell slightly by -20.8k.
Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 5.6% in March 2021 from 5.8% the previous month, below the market consensus of 5.7%. This is the lowest unemployment rate since March 2020, due to the ongoing economic recovery. The number of unemployed fell 27.1k to 778.1k, as people looking for full-time work fell 32.6k to 544.1k and those looking only for part-time jobs fell 5.5k to 234k. (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics).
National unemployment average falls to 5.6 per cent15/04/2021|2min
Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell says the only states with an unemployment rate higher than six per cent are South Australia and Queensland as unemployment rates fell to 5.6 per cent nationally.
Mr Clennell said Prime Minister Scott Morrison “copped a bit of flak for talking about snapback” but figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today show a sharp decrease in unemployment since March 2020.
The figures, however, do not show the effect of the removal of JobKeeper on the economy as they are tracked to mid-March.
“Is this low point as far as unemployment is concerned, will we get a readjustment to take national unemployment to over six per cent in the next couple of months,” he told Sky News chief anchor Kieran Gilbert.
2021-04-15 08:06:04 GMT2021-04-15 16:06:04(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
CANBERRA, April 15 (Xinhua) Australia s unemployment rate has continued to fall after more than 70,000 people found work in March.
According to labor force data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday, the unemployment rate fell to 5.6 percent in March, down from 5.8 percent in February.
Unemployment is now only 0.4 percent higher than it was in March 2020 when restrictions were first introduced to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The participation rate, which measures the percentage of the working-age population who are either employed or actively looking for work, stands at 66.3 percent. It is around all-time high according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.