We have updated our comprehensive chartpack on labour markets in Australia and New Zealand. The inaugural edition is here.
A key update in this edition is to the industry composition of jobs growth in Australia based on the quarterly Labour Account.1
In February, we wrote about the difficulties in fully explaining the ongoing strength in jobs growth in Australia despite strong growth in government spending - and its composition - clearly playing a significant role.
We flagged that “following a period of robust jobs growth, and weak labour productivity growth, we remain wary that jobs growth may eventually underwhelm despite the expected cyclical pick-up in (private) demand growth”.
The Labour Account now shows a clear slowing in aggregate and non-market sector jobs growth in Q1 and Q4 last year. The stalling in non-market sector jobs growth in Q1 is consistent with weakness in government consumption in the quarter as per the national accounts.
