Australian labour market – unemployment rises sharply – hard to reconcile with RBA’s excess demand claim

Created
Thu, 19/03/2026 - 13:06
Updated
Thu, 19/03/2026 - 13:06
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the latest labour force data today (March 19, 2026) – Labour Force, Australia – for February 2026 – which showed that the labour market had gone backwards. While employment growth remained positive, full-time work fell. The participation rate rose, which in some situations indicates a positive outlook as…