November 2010 Employment Report

Too good to last – October’s bumper increase in employment wasn’t sustained (‘000):

Labour lost almost all the ground it gained in October, losing 399k jobs compared to the 410k jobs gained in the previous month. The unemployment ratio would have looked worse if it hadn’t been for a corresponding drop in the labour force (‘000):

…which suggests that most of the jobs added in October were temporary, not permanent placements. The upshot is an unemployment ratio that’s barely budged:

But I have a feeling December’s numbers will reverse (again) – year end sales will have increased demand for temporary workers.

Technical Notes:

November 2010 Employment Report from the Department of Statistics (warning: pdf link)