Unemployment: Jobless rate down in November despite weak economy

[Pelican Press 0]

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Unemployment: Jobless rate down in November despite weak economy

Australia’s jobless rate has surprisingly dropped back to 3.9 per cent in November, despite the Reserve Bank’s concerns this week that the economy might be too slow.

That’s down from 4.1 per cent in October, according to the *********** Bureau of Statistics.

About 36,000 people found work in the month.

“In November we saw a higher than usual number of people moving into employment who (had been) unemployed and waiting to start work in October,” ABS head of labour statistics David Taylor said.

The jobs market was booming through most of 2024, with about 400,000 new roles created in the year to October.

Much of that has been driven by public spending, which has propped up demand amid a weak private sector.

The latest figures come just two days after the Reserve Bank held official interest rates at 4.35 per cent but signalled a cut would be considered next year.

Governor Michele Bullock said the board had noticed recent growth data was soft. The central bank also dropped its long-repeated warning that it might move either way on interest rates.

But fighting inflation remained top priority.

“We’re not saying that we’ve won the battle against inflation yet,” Ms Bullock said.

“But we’re saying we’ve got a little bit more confidence that things are evolving as (predicted) in our forecasts.”

Markets moved strongly on Tuesday to back in a rate reduction and viewed a move in February as more likely than not.

More to come.

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