SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Australian employment posted a disappointingly small rise in September in a hint that a very tight labour market might finally be loosening, lessening pressure for faster increases in interest rates.
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed net employment rose just 900 in September, short of market forecasts of 25,000 and well down on August’s jump of 36,300. Hours worked were also flat, suggesting some cooling in activity. The miss on jobs supports the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) decision this month to slow the pace of rate hikes to quarter-point moves, having already lifted rates by 250 basis points since May.
“The sharp slowdown in employment growth vindicates the RBA’s decision, but we doubt it will prevent the Bank from hiking its cash rate further,” said Marcel Thieliant, a senior economist at Capital Economics. “After all, our composite measure of job vacancies suggests that the unemployment rate will remain around the current very low levels for a while yet.”
The jobless rate held near 48-year lows at 3.5% in September, while the participation was just off record highs at 66.6%.
Full-time employment firmed 13,300, while total job gains for the 12 months to September were still up a huge 691,200 testifying to the strength of the market for much of this year.
