Friday’s Statement of Monetary Policy (SoMP), released by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), expressed concern at the underlying weakness of the Australian labour market, where nearly all of the recent jobs growth has been part-time and significant underemployment appears entrenched:
The unemployment rate continued to decline in the September quarter and is a bit more than half a percentage point below its peak in mid 2015 (Graph 3.10). While the unemployment rate has declined more quickly than had been expected a year ago, other indicators paint a more mixed picture and are consistent with some moderation in labour market conditions over the course of this year.
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Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
