Australia’s unemployment rate rose to 4.1% in April

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Financial markets have increased the chances of an interest rate cut later this year after a jump in the unemployment rate. The rise is being put down to high migration and more people joining the workforce to look for a job.

Transcript

00:00Business at this bar is down. The owner is trying to shake things up, but customers keep

00:08talking about cost of living pressures.

00:10There you go guys.

00:11Thank you.

00:12Thank you.

00:13People are going out a bit less, people are spending less, people are staying longer,

00:18and they're not ordering as much.

00:20That means Ben Newman can't give his casual staff as many hours as they want.

00:25We might close early on a certain day, but we might not be able to keep an extra one

00:29or two on that we otherwise might have.

00:32Despite nearly 400,000 more people in jobs, fewer hours are being worked compared to this

00:38time last year. That's pushed up the underemployment rate, where employees aren't working as much

00:43as they'd like. Competition for jobs is also heating up, and more people are looking

00:48for work, boosting the participation rate. That's led to an increase in the unemployment

00:54rate to 4.1 per cent.

00:56Economist Bessa Dedder says the jump in the jobless rate is reflective of a growing population

01:02with migrants among those looking for work.

01:05I think by the end of this year we will see an unemployment rate that's closer to 4.5

01:10per cent.

01:11The RBA assistant governor says the Reserve Bank is mindful of the pressure higher interest

01:16rates are putting on households.

01:18We don't discount the challenge that this has been for some people through the last

01:22little while.

01:23The latest jobs numbers are another sign that the Reserve Bank's attempts to slow

01:27down the economy are working. Financial markets now believe there's a strong chance of a

01:33rate cut by the end of this year, a view that's also shared by most economists.

01:38The next move from the Reserve Bank will be down. We have the timing as November for the

01:45first rate cut, which will be a quarter of a per cent rate cut, following that up with

01:50three more rate cuts over 2025.

01:53Until then, the drinks at the bar aren't overflowing like they used to.

Category

Transcript

Recommended