Australia’s employment report preview - NAB

Analysts at National Australia Bank (NAB) offer a sneak peek into what to expect from the Australian labor market report due this Thursday.

Key Quotes:

Employment/unemployment on Thursday will take on greater than usual importance

The RBA Governor recently described the labour market as "pretty soft" and that "we will want to see an improvement here before we can be confident that growth in the overall economy is strengthening"

A clear break has also emerged between the official employment figures and leading indicators such as the NAB business survey which has led many to doubt the veracity of recent prints 

The RBA (like the market) is holding faith to "forward looking indicators [which] still point to continued growth in employment over the period ahead

For this month, NAB and the market are looking for employment growth of +20k

For the unemployment rate, NAB looks for a decline to 5.8%, while the market expects this will be unchanged at 5.9%