The unemployment rate fell to 4 per cent in February, down from 4.2 per cent in the prior month as Australia’s labour market tightens and adds pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia to lift interest rates.
The economy added 77,400 jobs in February, up from the 12,900 added in January, and the decrease in the jobless rate brings its fall in the past year to 1.8 percentage points.
The decrease in the jobless rate signals a further tightening of the labour market, and is one factor keenly eyed by the Reserve Bank of Australia in determining when to increase interest rates.
Financial markets have run ahead of the RBA’s anticipated path to hiking rates through most of the pandemic.
The central bank’s governor Phil Lowe has held firm to his plan to wait until real inflation and wages growth occurs before lifting rates, although earlier this month his stance appeared to soften when he said borrowers should prepare for higher rates.
Be the first to comment