Australia unemployment rate hits four-year high of 4.5 per cent in September
Unemployment reached its highest level in the last four years, increasing the pressure on the Central Bank to cut interest rates at its next month’s meeting.
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data on Thursday, the number of unemployed people rose from 650,000 in August to 684,000 in September, while the unemployment rate rose from 4.3 percent to 4.5 percent.
This is despite the number of people with jobs increasing by nearly 15,000. With the addition of 190,500 positions in the country, total employment growth over the last 12 months slowed to 1.3 percent. However, total unemployment increased by 12.6 percent, or 76,800.
The latest statistics are putting pressure on the Central Bank to consider cutting interest rates at its meeting in the first week of November. The bank had predicted that the unemployment rate would reach 4.3 percent by the end of the year.
Appearing before the Senate economics committee last week, RBA governor Michele Bullock said she expected unemployment to continue rising this year but the job market was “close to balance”.
Before the unemployment update, financial markets estimated the possibility of a rate cut at the November 4 meeting to be only 40 percent.
Federal Reserve Governor Michele Bullock made the predictions in the Senate last week.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
As financial markets’ expectations for a rate cut increased, the Australian dollar reacted immediately, losing nearly half a cent against the US dollar.
An increase in the number of both men and women looking for work contributed to the increase in the number of unemployed people in September, according to the bureau. The participation rate, the share of the working-age population currently working or looking for work, rose to 67 percent but remained below the peak of 67.2 at the beginning of the year.
