The number of unemployed persons fell by 2.2 percent or by 3,000 people to 128,000. Employment went down by 0.2 percent to 2.535 million people. The employment rate dropped to 66.7 percent (vs 67.1 percent in the March of 2017 quarter).
The unemployment rate for women fell to 4.9 percent, with 10,000 fewer women unemployed, the lowest since March of 2009. Contrastingly, the male jobless rate rose to 4.7 percent (+7,000 men unemployed).
Annual wage inflation, as measured by the labor cost index, edged up to 1.7 percent in the second quarter of 2017, slightly above 1.6 percent in the previous period. Private sector wages rose by 1.6 percent (vs +1.5 percent in the previous quarter) and public sector wages went up by 1.9 percent (vs +1.7 percent). On a quarterly basis, wages increased by 0.4 percent, matching the previous period rise.