Via Bloomie comes RBA board member Ian Harper with strong words of warning for the hawks:
While it’s “terrific” full-time employment growth is strong and unemployment is slowly coming down, it’s a “concern” to see under-employment isn’t moving much and wages and household income growth are slow, because that indicates excess capacity, Harper said in a phone interview Wednesday.
“As well as we’re doing, the Australian economy is still operating below its potential,” said Harper, who began his five-year term on the RBA’s board in July last year. “So long as that is the case, why would anyone be suggesting tightening monetary policy when the economy is operating below potential? I mean hello?”
