Green Shoots But Expect Frost

There were some pretty impressive employment figures yesterday. You may have been surprised to see that there were an extra 27,000 odd jobs created during in the middle of a recession in April. I know I was and so were a lot of economists. Unfortunately the employment figures can vary wildly and the trend is likely to be for a further increase in the number unemployed during 2009. The figures are based on a survey with a sample size of 0.24% of the population or 22,800 houses, flats etc.

While these figures, and the retail sales figures, may prompt the RBA to continue pausing their rate cuts for the moment, all business surveys and confidence indicators suggest that the easing cycle isn't finished yet.