Australia’s unemployment rate has remained steady in May despite a dip in employment.<\/p>\n
The unemployment rate came in at 4.1 per cent last month, for the fifth month in a row, in seasonally adjusted terms.<\/p>\n
Employment decreased by 2,500 people and the number of officially unemployed people declined by 2,600.<\/p>\n
Weak GDP gives RBA green light for another interest rate cut in July<\/a><\/p>\n Australia is teetering on the brink of falling back into a per capita recession, but the bad news could soon be good news for borrowers.<\/p>\n Since employment and unemployment both declined in May, the labour force shrank a little \u2014 by 5,100 people.<\/p>\n That saw the participation rate decline by 0.1 percentage points, to 67 per cent, down from 67.1 per cent in April.<\/p>\n The apparent slowdown in momentum in Australia’s labour market in May follows an unexpectedly strong jobs surge in April, when 87,600 jobs were added.<\/p>\n Kar Chong Low, economist for Oxford Economics Australia, said he wasn’t concerned about May’s weakness.<\/p>\n But he is expecting employment growth to slow down this year, with rising global uncertainty.<\/p>\n “The drop in jobs does not reflect a sudden reversal of the labour market’s fortunes. Instead, part of the fall reflects normalisation following exceptionally strong growth in April,” he said.<\/p>\n “Looking ahead, the labour market’s strong run over the past 12 months will slowly fade. Global uncertainty is clouding business decisions and prompting many firms to temper hiring plans,” he said.<\/p>\n What’s the outlook for jobs?<\/p>\n Callam Pickering, Asia Pacific economist at global job site Indeed, said it was a “somewhat disappointing result” for jobs growth in May.<\/p>\n But he also said we shouldn’t dwell on a slight decline in employment given the strong gains seen in prior months.<\/p>\n