Australian Leading Employment Indicator Rises In October

CANBERRA -- Australia's Department of Employment said Wednesday that its leading indicator of employment has risen to a negative 0.934 in October from an upwardly revised negative 1.104 in September.

The October outcome means the indicator has now risen for four straight months, reversing direction after falling for a revised 19 successive months, the department reported.

The indicator is still tentatively foreshadowing a quickening in the pace of employment growth to above its downwardly revised long-term trend rate of 1.8% a year, it reported.

However, it will take another two consecutive monthly increases for the indicator for a turning point to be confirmed.

The indicator measures four weighted time-series variables: ANZ newspaper job ads, Dun & Bradstreet employment expectations, the Westpac-Melbourne Institute leading index of economic activity survey, and the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will issue September employment data Thursday.