Employment surges back to pre-pandemic levels, unemployment falls sharply to 5.8% [7 charts]

Employment surged in February with jobs growth of 88,7000 which were all full time jobs.

This meant our unemployment levels fell much more than expected, down five tenths to 5.8% from 6.3% in January (revised down from 6.4%)

The surge in employment now takes the level of employment back to pre-pandemic levels with both full-time and part-time jobs back around pre-pandemic levels.

So far this year there has been a distinct shift in employment towards full-time employment.

Up to January the majority of the recovery in employment was part-time, since then we have seen a market shift with full-time employment lifting 147.8k (1.7%) since December while part-time employment is down -29k (-0.7%).

Since March full-time employment is up 18.3k/0.2% while part-time employment is down -14.7k/-0.4%.

By gender male participation is up 0.2ppt while female participation is up 0.3ppt.

Female unemployment rate fell 0.7ppt to 5.5% while male unemployment fell 0.4ppt to 6.1%.

Employment increased in all states

The largest states contributed the most - NSW (+42.0k), VIC (+26.6k) and QLD (+23.9k).

Queensland employment is now 1.3% higher than it was pre-pandemic, while all other states are within 1 percent of their pre-pandemic levels.

The employment recovery in Victoria continues, with Victorian employment now above pre-pandemic levels, and the unemployment rate declining 0.7 percentage points to 5.6% following ongoing re-opening in the economy seen since mid-October.

Leading indicators such as job ads and survey employment indicators continue to point to robust employment growth ahead.

However, we know that the RBA would like to see unemployment levels sustained in the 4's, or possibly the 3's, so that we can see wages growth.

Source of all charts: National Australia Bank

About Kate Forbes Kate Forbes is a National Director at Metropole assisting our high net worth clients safely grow, protect and pass on their wealth. She has 25 years of investment experience in financial markets on two continents, is qualified in multiple disciplines, and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).