RBA looks to get its messaging right amid uncertain jobs numbers

After three half-hearted and delayed interest rate cuts, the Central Bank now finds itself under pressure to make another rate cut before the end of the year. September employment figures showed that unemployment increased to 4.5 percent.

At the headline level, the pressure is understandable. Unemployment is at its highest since the pandemic and above the RBA’s 4.3% forecast for the end of the year. The increase in the size of the unemployed pool in September was fairly modest: from 650,000 in August to 684,000.