Last week the fall in the unemployment rate brought some good economic news but, as always seems to be the case, it was tempered by the quarterly vacancy figures which shows life is pretty tough out there now for those looking for work – indeed as tough as it has been for more than a decade. The labour force figures released last Thursday by the Bureau of Statistics showed that the unemployment rate was steady at 6.2% in trend terms but had unexpectedly fallen in the more volatile seasonally adjusted measure to 6.1%: The fall in the seasonally adjusted measure was a surprise to financial traders who had been expecting a higher rate, one that would make it more likely for the RBA to cut interest rates next month. This set currency exchange dealers into a frenzy, sending the value of the Australian dollar to rise to around half a cent in under a minute. Read more: theguardian/business/grogonomics/2015/jan/19/despite-good-news-on-the-unemployment-rate-the-fight-for-jobs-is-as-tough-as-ever?CMP=soc_567
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:09:01 +0000