The Australian job report has been released as follows, lifting the Aussie on the better than expected jobs numbers, passing 0.7180.
Aussie jobs data
- Australia July Employment +114.7k s/adj (Reuters poll: +40.0k).
Australia July Unemployment rate +7.5 pct, s/adj (Reuters poll: +7.8).
Australia July full-time Employment +43.5k s/adj.
Australia July Participation Rate +64.7 pct, s/adj (Reuters poll: +64.4 pct).
Australian Bureau of Statistics says jobs recovered by 343,000, hours worked by 5.5% since May.
ABS says employment remained over half a million people lower than seen in March.
Westpac analysts, ahead of the release, explained that after a substantial jump in employment in June of 210.8k, the recovery should continue in July at a slower pace.
Westpac and the market expected increases of 40k and 30k respectively.
Rising participation should drive unemployment higher from 7.4% to 7.8%, which would be a high since 1998.
AUD/USD implications
Meanwhile, Australia’s economic recovery will be slowed notably by the Victorian virus resurgence.
Stage 4 restrictions will weigh on the participation rate and leave the unemployment level elevated.
How much this hurts A$ is an open question, with the RBA consistently pushing back against further easing steps such as negative interest rates. China’s industrial sector rebound also continues to underpin Australia’s resources-driven trade surpluses,
analysts at Westpac argued.
The AUD is the commodity currency which means it is bearing the biggest risk of a correction in the case of further escalation in US-China tensions…
More to come…
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