Breaking: Aussie jobs data was dismal in whole and a weight on AUD/USD

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has published an overview of trends in the Australian labour market, with the Unemployment Rate a closely watched indicator. However, the miss in the headline is shocking and will hurt the Aussie for the day(s) ahead. 

The data has arrived as follows:

Australian Employment Change Jul: -40.9K (est 25.0K; prev 88.4K) - Unemployment Rate Jul: 3.4% (est 3.5%; prev 3.5%) - Participation Rate Jul: 66.4% (est 66.8%; prev 66.8%)

More to come...

AUD/USD is being pressured heavily by the dismal results in the data, losing some 20 pips on the knee jerk to test 0.6925.

About the jobs data

It is released about 15 days after the month's end and throws light on the overall economic conditions, as it is highly correlated to consumer spending and inflation. Despite the lagging nature of the indicator, it affects the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) interest rate decisions, in turn, moving the Australian dollar. The upbeat figure tends to be AUD positive.

The Unemployment Rate release by the Australian Bureau of Statistics is the number of unemployed workers divided by the total civilian labor force. If the rate hikes, indicates a lack of expansion within the Australian labor market. As a result, a rise leads to weaken the Australian economy. A decrease of the figure is seen as positive (or bullish) for the AUD, while an increase is seen as negative (or bearish).