Today’s release of the – Labour Force data – for June 2014 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics is slightly improved on recent months but still portrays a weak labour market. While the participation rate rose, which pushed extra workers into the labour force, employment growth still remained below population growth and so unemployment would have risen without the participation rate rise. The other poor outcome was the decline in full-time employment. Overall, the labour market is scudding along a very flat path and unemployment continues to eke its way up. The unemployment rate topped 6 per cent in June 2014 and is now higher than it was 5 years ago (June 2009) when the worst of crisis was being endured before the fiscal stimulus took effect. That symbolises policy failure.