Australia’s unemployment rate stabilized at 4.1% in May, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) at the beginning of the Asian session today, Thursday, June 19. This was in line with expectations, while the labor force participation rate declined to 67.0% from 67.1% in April.
The Australian economy lost approximately 2,500,000 jobs in May, bringing the total number of jobs to 14,620,600, after adding approximately 87,000 jobs in April, compared to expectations of approximately 20,000 jobs. New Zealand’s economy grows by 0.8%. New Zealand’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.8% in the first quarter of this year, ending in March, according to data released in the Asian session by Statistics New Zealand. This compares to 0.5% in the fourth and final quarter of last year, while expectations indicated a growth of around 0.7%.