Australia’s job market continues to show resilience, with employment rising significantly in September, and taking the pressure off the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to cut rates.
ANZ Head of Australian Economics, Adam Boyton, said that employment increased by 64,100 in September, beating market expectations of 25,000.
Full-time employment increased by 51,600, while part-time rose by 12,500 according to the ABS.
“Over the past six months employment growth has averaged 45,000,” Mr Boyton said.
The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1 per cent, while the participation rate reached a record high of 67.2 per cent.
Mr Boyton said the strength in female workforce participation was evident, hitting an all-time high of 63.2 per cent.
“The strength in employment does present a degree of tension with the ongoing soft pace of GDP growth,” he said.
“While hours worked had been running softer than employment growth, hours worked is now recorded as being up 2.4 per cent year-on-year.”
The strong employment growth may impact the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monetary policy decisions, according to Mr Boyton.
“What the ongoing robustness in employment growth does, however, is remove any urgency for near-term rate cuts in Australia,” he said.
Despite the strong job market, Mr Boyton said he still thinks there is a cut coming.
“We continue to see the first easing in February 2025, although achieving a rate cut on that timeframe will likely require a broader easing in labour market conditions (which we still expect),” he said.
