According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Unemployment Rate stood at 4.6 percent in July after being at 4.9 percent in the previous month and below the analysts' expectations, who foresaw it to be at 5 percent. The number of Australians joining the workforce grew by 2200, after growing by 29.100 in the previous month. The analysts foresaw it to shrink by 46.200.
The number of workers entering into the full-time workforce shrank by 4.200, after increasing by 51.600 in the previous month. In contrast, the number of workers entering into the part-time workforce rose by 6.400 after shrinking by 22.500. The Participation Rate stood at 66 percent, in line with the analysts expectations and after being at 66.2 percent in the previous month.
Despite the good news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics warned that this is not neccesarily a sign of a recovering labor market since most of the improvement comes from a declining participation rate.
"The Australian economy remains resilient, with unemployment dropping to 4.6 percent in July. But many are doing it tough in lockdown, especially New South Wales where hours worked fell 7 percent," commented the national treasurer Josh Frydenberg on his twitter account, "That's why the Morrison Government is supporting businesses and individuals, with +$3.1 billion in disaster payments to 1.4 million workers," he added.
Australia continues struggling with the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus, which is causing a significant rise in the number of infections. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 41,521 covid-19 cases have been reported in Australia as well as 972 deaths associated with it, making it one of the least affected countries in the developed world.
In order to combat the spread of the disease, the government has decided to extend the lockdown in New South Wales which is considered a very controversial decision given the duration of the restrictions. The government is also attempting to advance a very ambitious massive vaccination campaign. So far, 15.9 million doses have been distributed among the local population, while 5.63 million people are now fully vaccinated, which accounts for about 22.2 percent of the total population.
Since the beginning of the week the Australian Dollar has dropped by 2.83 percent against the US Dollar, breaking a two-week gaining streak. By 10:50 GMT the Aussie dropped by 0.94 percent against the greenback, falling to the 0.7165 level.