Westpac with their view on what the jobs data means.

  • this month's modest decline in the unemployment rate will be temporary and emphasise we are still a long way away from the RBA's full employment aim of 4.5%. It does however allow the RBA some more time to monitor the economy before having to act again.
  • while rate cuts along with the Government's tax offset payments should help to support demand, we think it will be insufficient to get economic growth moving back to trend or above in 2020
  • As we see employment growth moderating and the participation rate declining only slightly to 65.9% by end 2020, we continue to expect slack in the labour market to persist.

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Note - WPAC are forecasting the next Reserve Bank of Australia rate cut in February 2020.

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ICYMI, data reported here: