Australia’s unemployment rate has remained steady at 4.2 per cent for August, offering few clues as to whether the RBA will move to cut interest rates next week.
About 47,000 new jobs were created in August, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as the labour market remains at historically tight levels despite the relatively weak economy.
“The high employment-to-population ratio and participation rate shows that there are still large numbers of people entering the labour force and finding work, as employers continue to look to fill a more than usual number of job vacancies,” ABS head of labour statistics Kate Lamb said.
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The flat figures are unlikely to change the Reserve Bank’s thinking ahead of next week’s interest rates decision and prompt an early cut.
“This really doesn’t represent a massive change for the Reserve Bank, 4.2 per cent remains Australia’s unemployment rate,” 9News Finance Editor Chris Kohler said.
“No smoking gun there as they head towards their meeting on Tuesday.
“If we had seen an increase in the unemployment rate, let’s say to 4.3 per cent, which is what CBA economists were expecting, then that might have pulled forward that expectation for an interest rate cut perhaps into this year.
“But as it stands there’s really nothing in this report that shows that we’re going to have an interest rate cut in the next couple of meetings here in Australia.”
More to come.
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