Solid Australian Employment Data Offer Support To AUD

Australian employment sped past expectations in February as activity recovered surprisingly quickly from an Omicron outbreak, driving unemployment down to lowest since 2008. The latest data do add to pressure for an early interest rate hike.

Latest floods in New South Wales and Queensland have come after the February reference period, Employment was expected to spike by 37000 for the month. A lift in participation to 66.4% should boost the impact of the fall in the Unemployment Rate in the eyes of the market.

Meanwhile, however, AUD/USD is moving higher by a handful of pips on the outcome of the report. AUD/USD is trading within a range of 0.7282 and 0.7311 on the day with highs being struck on the day.

The Unemployment Rate released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics is the number of unemployed workers divided by the total civilian labour force. If the rate hikes, this indicates a lack of expansion within the Australian labour market. As a result, a rise leads to weakening the Australian economy. A decrease of the figure is seen as positive (or bullish) for the AUD, while an increase is seen as negative (or bearish).