August saw the largest monthly employment increase in the 35 years that the Australian Bureau of Statistics has been generating records.
Figures released by the ABS have revealed that the number of people employed rose by an unprecedented 121,000, seasonally adjusted to 11,703,500.
Of the new jobs added last month, 14,300 were full-time positions.
While the increase of employment is undoubtedly positive, Employment Minister Eric Abetz highlighted the unpredictable nature of the sector, and called for the figures to be viewed in this context.
“Today’s figures are encouraging, but the volatility in numbers show that the labour market is soft and employers still have concerns about taking on new employees,” Senator Abetz said in a statement.
Opposition treasury spokesman Chris Bowen also weighed in, commenting that one month’s figures alone is not an ‘upward trend’. “You can’t put too much store in one month’s figures – I said that last month when the unemployment rate shot up…”
The statistics released by ABS have come under scrutiny by some economists, claiming that such a drastic jump in employment simply does not ring true.
“We don’t believe the data,” Josh Williamson and Paul Brennan, chief economists at Citigroup said. “Even the ABS probably doesn’t believe it,” they added.
Peter Harper, chief statistician at the ABS, defended the findings. “The August numbers were compiled in accordance with our high professional standards,” he said.
The estimates are based on survey findings, and the ABS acknowledged there is room for sampling error.
The report stated that the findings are subject to sampling variability, and that they are 95 per cent confident that the final number regarding the rise in jobs sits between 63,400 and 178,600.
