The broken record screeches again:
Australia’s inflation rate, at 1.6% (June quarter), remains well below the Reserve Bank of Australia’s official target range of 2-3%. The unemployment rate rose slightly to 5.3% in August, while real wage growth remains low at 0.7%. The RBA Shadow Board’s conviction that the cash rate should remain at the historically low rate of 1% has fallen from 71% to 65%, while the confidence in a required rate cut has increased from 14% to 24% and the confidence in a required rate hike has fallen from 14% to 11%.
Based on ABS figures for August, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Australia ticked up to 5.3%. The labour force participation rate also edged up to 66.2%. Total employment rose by nearly 35,000 but there was a drop in full time employment of more than 15,000. There were no new data on wages growth.
