AUSTRALIA UNEMPLOYMENT RATE EXPECTED TO DECLINE TO 4% AFTER JANUARY’S REBOUND

• The Australian Unemployment Rate is expected to have eased to 4% in February.
• Employment Change is foreseen to bounce after January's disappointing 0.5K increase.
• AUD/USD turned marginally bullish near-term following the Federal Reserve’s decision.

Australia is scheduled to release the February monthly employment report on Thursday, following the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) monetary policy decision on Tuesday. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is expected to announce that the economy added 40K new job positions in February, while the seasonally adjusted Unemployment Rate is foreseen at 4%, easing from 4.1% in January. The Australian Dollar (AUD) heads into the event with a weak tone, trading against the US Dollar at around 0.6570.

Australian Employment Change is divided into full-time and part-time positions. Full-time jobs imply working 38 hours per week or more and usually include additional benefits, but they mostly represent consistent income. On the other hand, part-time employment generally means higher hourly rates but lacks consistency and benefits. That’s why the economy prefers full-time jobs.

In January, the economy shed 10,600 part-time roles and added 11,100 full-time, leaving a measly headline net gain of around 500 jobs for the month. 

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced its monetary policy decision on Tuesday. As widely anticipated, the RBA kept the Cash Rate at 4.75% for the third consecutive meeting. Policymakers acknowledged inflation is moderating but added the economic outlook remains uncertain. The decision fell short of impressive and came out alongside the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) decision to drop its ultra-loose monetary policy, hiking rates for the first time in seventeen years. As a result, the US Dollar soared across the board, pushing AUD/USD to a two-week low of 0.6503.