Australia – Markit Services and Composite PMI for May (final)
IHS Markit PMIs for Australia
Services 58.0
Composite 58.0 also
‘Key findings’ from the report:
- Business activity and demand sustain noticeable
growth - Sharpest increase in employment on record
- Cost inflation accelerates to series high
Solid expansion, jobs up .. good signs in the report.
Comments from Markit:
- “Australia’s service sector sustained a strong rate of expansion in May with both demand and business activity growing at a healthy pace. The improvement in economic conditions can be seen providing firms with better confidence to continue hiring at a record pace.
- “Backlogs meanwhile continued to build despite the increase in operating capacity. Anecdotally, some service providers are looking to rebuild their headcount to pre COVID-19 levels but a few are citing difficulties in finding new employees.
- “Business confidence remained strong in May, even as price inflation accelerated, with firms anticipating further recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest developments surrounding Melbourne’s lockdown may however be one to keep a close eye on.”