Despite Omicron surging through the community during the summer holiday period Australia’s unemployment rate was maintained at a near-record low of 4.2 percent.
Setting aside the timing of spending, in absolute terms retail turnover remains very buoyant (11.6 percent higher than the trough of the Delta lockdown in August).
To some degree, this month’s figures represent a blip – the payroll data released yesterday by the ABS shows this hike in the unemployment rate will be temporary.
The ABS data shows the Australian labour market, and hence the Australian economy, took a slight pause in its recovery during January in response to the additional lockdown procedures implemented over Christmas.
