Latest results from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveal the national unemployment rate has plateaued and is now sitting at 5.5% in January 2018, a slight decrease on the December 2017 result of 5.6%.
As it currently stands, nearly 12.5 million Australians are now considered employed; the highest on record. With over 16,000 new jobs added over the month to January 2018, the latest uptick in employment marks the 16th consecutive monthly increase and the longest run of increases on record. To put things into perspective, over the past 5 years, close to 1 million Australian jobs were created.
Kristina Clifton, Senior Economist at the Commonwealth Bank, noted Australian household income and household spending will generally rise as the number of employed persons increases. We are already gradually seeing this trend in action, with household final consumption expenditure rising 2.2% over the 12 months to September 2017. Based on current employment data and comments from Ms Clifton, it is expected household final consumption expenditure will continue to rise in the ABS December 2017 results, released on the 7th March 2018.
*all figures were calculated on a seasonally adjusted basis