Today’s jobless figures have revealed a higher than expected unemployment rate.
Economists had tipped the rate to rise by 0.1 per cent to 5.6 per cent, but figures released today for June have our nation’s unemployment rate at 5.7 per cent.
While the value of the Australian dollar remained steady at the news, it has increased the likelihood of further rate cuts of the current low of 2.75 per cent.
All eyes will be on the June quarter’s inflation figures due out later this month. Commonwealth Bank’s chief economist Michael Blyth said in The Age that if inflation figures are as predicted, an interest rate cut is a real possibility.
Australian jobs have been taking big hits in the export and manufacturing industries with the high Australian dollar over the past couple of years, and have started feeling the pinch from the slowdown in the country’s mining boom.
Economists are predicting further rises in the unemployement rate to 6 percent and higher, as our population increases faster than new jobs vacancies, and we shift our dependence from mining-led growth.
