HomeWorld NewsAustralian dollar holds, UK retail sales, US unemployment claims

Australian dollar holds, UK retail sales, US unemployment claims

In the UK Retail sales volumes rose by 1.4% in April 2022 following a fall of 1.2% in March 2022 (revised from a fall of 1.4%); sales volumes were 4.1% above their February 2020 levels.

Looking more broadly, in the three months to April 2022, sales volumes fell by 0.3% when compared with the previous three months; this continues the downward trend since summer 2021.

Food store sales volumes rose by 2.8% in April 2022, mostly because of higher spending on alcohol and tobacco in supermarkets; supermarket food sales were broadly unchanged.

Non-store retailing sales volumes, which are predominantly sales from online-only retailers, rose by 3.7% in April 2022 led by stronger clothing sales.

Automotive fuel sales volumes rose by 1.4% in April 2022 following a fall of 4.2% in March when record increases in petrol prices impacted sales.

Non-food stores sales volumes fell by 0.6% in April 2022 because of falls in other non-food stores (negative 3.3%) and household goods stores (negative 0.5%) such as furniture stores.

The proportion of retail sales online rose to 27.0% in April 2022 from 25.9% in March and remains substantially higher than the 19.9% in February 2020.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics hours worked increased by 1.3% (in seasonally adjusted terms) between March and April 2022, while employment was steady (0.03% increase). Throughout the pandemic, the hours worked series shows larger short-term changes than in the employed series, given that employees may be away from paid work for a short period without losing their job.

In April 2022, the number of people who were not employed with job attachment was 232,800 people, an increase of 900 people from March 2022. In April 2022, the number of unemployed future starters was 34,600 people, a decrease of 4,600 people from March 2022.

In seasonally adjusted terms, in April 2022: unemployment rate remained at 3.9%, unemployment rate was 1.4 pts below March 2020, unemployed people decreased by 11,000 to 537,100, unemployed people was 182,300 lower than March 2020, youth unemployment rate increased by 0.5 pts to 8.8% and youth unemployment rate was 2.8 pts lower than March 2020.

Per the US Department of Labor’s news release in the week ending May 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 218,000, an increase of 21,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 6,000 from 203,000 to 197,000. The 4-week moving average was 199,500, an increase of 8,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 1,500 from 192,750 to 191,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 0.9 percent for the week ending May 7, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 7 was 1,317,000, a decrease of 25,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since December 27, 1969 when it was 1,304,000. The previous week’s level was revised down by 1,000 from 1,343,000 to 1,342,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,362,250, a decrease of 22,500 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since January 24, 1970 when it was 1,361,000. The previous week’s average was revised down by 250 from 1,385,000 to 1,384,750.

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