Australian Unemployment Reaches A Four Year High

123jump.com Staff
12 Mar, 2009
New York City

Australian stocks decreased after a government report said the country

[R]3:00AM New York, 7:00PM Sydney - Australia’s unemployment increases 47.1% in February.[/R]

Australian stocks fell 0.3% after a government report indicated the country’s unemployed persons jumped to a four year high in February.

Market sentiment also deteriorated as oil prices dipped 2.7%.

In Sydney trading ASX 200 index slipped 0.3% or 8.9 to 3,235.50.

Of the ASX 200 index stocks, 77 rose, 108 dropped, and 15 were unchanged. ING Industrial led gainers in the index shares with rise of 55.8%.

Australia’s Unemployed Rise 47.1% in February

Australian Bureau of Statistics reported today the country’s unemployed persons increased 47.1% from a month ago and 36.5% from a year earlier to 590,500 in February in seasonally adjusted terms.

The number of persons looking for full-time work increased by 44,400 to 426,000, while the number of persons looking for part-time work increased by 2,600 to 164,500.

Employment in the period increased 1.8% on the month and 0.7% from a year ago to 10.8 million. Full-time employment dropped by 53,800 to 7.6 million and part-time employment rose by 55,600 to 3,146,200.

The statistics bureau noted that the unemployment rate gained by 0.4 percentage points to 5.2%, with the male unemployment rate gaining by 0.3 percentage points to 5.1%, and the female unemployment rate rising by 0.5 percentage points to 5.3%.

NAB not Planning Job Cuts

National Australia Bank chief executive officer Cameron Clyne reported today that despite some job losses in its MLC wealth management unit at the start of 2008/2009 the lender is not planning any further job cuts.

NAB also noted that job losses are also likely to be limited notwithstanding the planned restructure of nabCapital- the bank’s institutional banking arm.

“But none of our businesses are working to job reduction targets. We are not anticipating significant reductions,"" said Clyne.

Gainers & Losers

ING Industrial led advancers in the ASX 200 index shares with a rise of 55.8% followed by increases in Tishman Speyer of 25.9%, in NRW Holdings of 16.3%, in Macquarie Office of 16%, and Goodman Group of 13.5%.

Cetro Retail Group led decliners in the ASX 200 index shares with a decline of 11.5%, in Macquarie DDR TR of 10%, in Babcock & Brown of 8.8%, Murchison Metals of 7.5%, and Riversdale Mining of 7.4%.

Energy stocks fell after crude oil prices dipped 2.7% to $44.5 per barrel. Beach Petroleum shed 5.8%.