KS at Loose Change nicely summarises today’s new ABS labour force data with the title of his post: Qld employment shocker! I suspect today’s bad numbers are largely due to the fiscal restraint from the Queensland Government we’ve seen over the last six months and the recent shedding of public service jobs. Hence I expect it will be temporary in nature, as many redundant public servants will eventually find other jobs, and I don’t expect the unemployment rate to remain above 6% for long. While the fiscal austerity is likely to bring some long-term benefits, there is no doubt it will have short-term macroeconomic consequences.

Here’s OESR’s nice chart from its briefing note showing today’s bad news: