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Labour force resilience to be tested as market softens
The health of Australia’s jobs market is set to be on show after the last set of numbers revealed a weakening pulse.
August labour force numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics are due on Thursday following a weaker-than-expected report for July.
Australian employers shed 14,600 jobs in that month, surprising economists expecting to see employment tick higher.
The unemployment rate also lifted to 3.7 per cent, its highest level since May.
The ABS flagged the influence of the school holiday period on the weaker result, suggesting the timing of the break may have artificially depressed the numbers.
The labour market has proved remarkably resilient to four percentage points of interest rate hikes.
While finding workers remains challenging in many sectors, the July result suggested the jobs market was starting to cool.
The Reserve Bank of Australia expects the unemployment rate to drift up as higher interest rates work to take demand out of the economy and bring down inflation.
The central bank hopes to preserve as much of the gains in the labour market as possible, however, and is willing to tolerate a drawn-out timeframe to return inflation to its two-to-three target range in its bid to keep most people in their jobs.
Fresh insights into the private sector will also be revealed when NAB drops its monthly business survey on Tuesday.
Business conditions have also proved resilient despite expectations of a weakening economy, although confidence levels remain subdued.
Other data sets of interest include the ABS overseas arrivals and departures figures and dwelling value numbers, both scheduled for Tuesday.
Officials from Treasury, the Productivity Commission and the consumer watchdog will front a parliamentary hearing into economic dynamism and competition on Friday.
– AAP
22m ago22.26 EDT
Auction rates across the country
Auction activity has remained stable this weekend, with 2,285 auctions expected to be held.
This is one lower than the 2,286 auctions held last week and above the 1,918 auctions that occurred at the same time last year.
Based on the 1,725 results collected so far, CoreLogic’s summary found that the preliminary clearance rate was 71.7% across the country, which is higher than the 71.2% rate recorded at the weekend last week and last week’s 65.4% actual clearance rate on final numbers.
Across…
2023-09-09 21:38:09
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