The Australian economy added more jobs in June, causing the unemployment rate to continue to slump to a new low of nearly 50 years and reinforcing the central bank’s grounds for further interest rate hikes.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported employment increased to 88,400 from 60,600 recorded the previous month, largely driven by an increase in full -time employment.
The unemployment rate was reported to have fallen to 3.5% last month, the lowest level since August 1974. This figure was better than expected to decline to 3.8% from 3.9% recorded the previous month.
This reading will further widen the ‘path’ for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to act more aggressively in raising its interest rates to curb inflation.
As a result, the Aussie dollar bounced higher from a two -year low against the US dollar.
Last week, the RBA raised the rate by 50 basis points to 1.35%. Still, it is seen as still needing more hikes to cope with soaring price pressures.
Australian consumer inflation was recorded at 5.1% for the first quarter of 2022 with the fastest annual rate increase since 2001 due to higher fuel and food costs.
