The jobless rate in Australia fell to 5.6 per cent in March from the 5.8 per cent that was recorded in February. The contraction exceeded the preliminary market forecasts, which were expecting headline unemployment to be revised down to 5.7 per cent.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 's latest labour force survey revealed the lowest level of unemployment in exactly one year, which means that the Australian labour market has been able to recuperate completely from the initial coronavirus hit.
The global trend of robust employment growth has seen Australian unemployment shrink for five consecutive months, which is inlined with the projections of the RBA for continued stabilisation in activity.
This progress is made even more evident by the fact that 70.7 thousand new jobs were added in March. Even though this performance is moderately less than the 88.7 thousand positions that were created a month prior, the initial forecasts were anticipating only 32.5 thousand new jobs. The rate of stabilisation of employment conditions thus outstrips the baseline scenario for medium-term recovery.
The better-than-expected labour force numbers boosted the Australian dollar shortly after ABS' publication. As can be seen on the 4H chart below, the AUDUSD jumped from the Support Area in green - which underpins the previous swing low - and is currently headed towards the upper boundary of the underlying range.
The range itself spans between the major resistance level at 0.78000, whose strength has been tested on two separate occasions, and the major support level at 0.76000, which has also been tested twice.
While a potential bearish pullback to the Support Area is possible, the fact that the 50-day MA (in green) crossed above the 100-day MA (in blue) elucidates the rising bullish pressure at present. This is why the AUDUSD is likely to at least test the strength of the 0.78000 resistance for the third time in the near future.