Employment data illusion leaves young jobseekers disillusioned
The jobs numbers have confounded the experts yet again. After July's data saw the unemployment rate race to decade highs, the latest result has turned up a record surge in new jobs.
If you can believe the ABS numbers, more than 100,000 jobs were created in August - not bad for an economy running slower than average.
"We had been expecting some rebound in employment, but that was a rebound of 20,000 jobs and obviously that was one-sixth of the gain that we actually saw in employment," said ANZ senior economist Rikki Polygenis.
Unemployment fell sharply from 6.4 back to 6.1 per cent.
A record 120,000 jobs were created, most of them part-time.
The overall workforce grew by 88,000, the biggest monthly jump in over 20 years.
"The labour market reportedly added more jobs in August than it did in the preceding 12 months, and it also suggests that almost 1 per cent of the population over 15 got a job in one single month as well," Ms Polygenis added.
The unemployment rate dropped in every state, with a massive fall of more than 1 percentage point in South Australia.
"These are good figures but, obviously, they bounce around month to month," observed the Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey, downplaying the numbers.
Underemployment at record high
No matter what today's numbers show, young people attempting to make themselves more employable are evidence of a growing problem of underemployment.
"I've really struggled. Every position that I've ever applied for has always been casual," said young jobseeker Adrian Sortino.
"I've seen some advertised part-time positions, but the amount of people inside of those job interviews, the amount of people - the amount of applicants - is far too high."
"It sounds easy when you're in high school. They say, 'Yeah, when you leave, you'll get a job. You know, you just fall into it.' And it's really hard, so I've struggled, but I'm going to keep going," added Zahna Mackay, another young job hunter.
The underemployment rate is accelerating again and stands at a record high of 8.5 per cent. For the first time, more than a million people who already have jobs want more work.
Also at a 15-year high is the labour underutilisation rate, which takes account of both the unemployed and employed people who need more work.
"Maybe there's not enough entry kind of level jobs or jobs that let you get that essential experience that you need to actually secure a position somewhere," said Robert Spileri, another person searching for work.
As implausible as today's numbers are, they do reinforce some perceptions.
"There's nothing really in today's figures that change our view that we were going to see some stabilisation in the unemployment rate into the end of the year and for employment to start gradually picking up as well," explained Ms Polygenis.
If financial markets needed any more convincing, it also reinforces perceptions that the Reserve Bank will not be cutting interest rates.
