Australia's employment beats expectations, full-time jobs drive the growth

After hitting a soft patch in February, Australia's employment bounced back in March. Australian employment rose for the sixth consecutive month suggesting that the labor market was on strong footing.

According to data published by the national statistics bureau on Thursday, in seasonally adjusted terms, Australia's overall employment rose by 60,900 in March, following a revised gain of 2,800 in February. The rise was far above forecasts for an increase of 20,000.

Full-time jobs drove the growth, with 74,500 positions created, the largest rise since June 2011, offsetting a fall of 13,600 in part-time jobs. The unemployment rate remained steady at 5.9 percent, as expected, largely because the participation rate which rose to an eight-month high of 64.8 percent.

"After tracking broadly at around 5¾% for nearly a year, unemployment is now rising in trend terms. Along with still high underemployment, this suggests that there remains significant spare capacity in the labour market which is likely to continue to weigh on wage growth," said ANZ in a report.