Australia`s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in eight years in February (Radio 7)
Australia`s unemployment rate fell 0.1 percent to 4.9 percent in February, its lowest level in eight years. However, full-time employment has declined for the third time in the past four months.
Part-time employment boosted overall employment in February, but full-time employment fell by 7300, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by Australia`s Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
It was widely expected earlier that unemployment would remain at 5%. Official results exceeded expectations, prompting the Australian dollar to rise.
However, capital economic (Capital Economics) analyst Tiliant (Marcel Thieliant) said employment grew by just 4600 in February, the weakest figure in the past year. The increase is well below the average of 47,999 in the past six months.
"unemployment fell to an eight-year low in February, suggesting that the (RBA), the Reserve Bank of Australia, will remain optimistic for the time being," Tiliant said. However, we still believe that the labour market will soon begin to slow again. As a result, unemployment will soon rise again, forcing the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates. "
The Reserve Bank of Australia announced earlier this month that cash rates would remain at an all-time low of 1.5 percent and this week stated its neutrality. But a growing number of economics families expect to cut interest rates by one or two times by the end of 2019, 0.25 percentage points each.
As of 11:50 EDT Thursday, the Australian dollar rose from 71.32 cents to 71.60 cents against the dollar after unemployment data were released.
