The employment report from Australia is here (and more):
- Australian jobs report - Unemployment rate 5.3% (vs. 5.2% expected)
- Australian dollar drops on the big miss on jobs report
- More on the Australian jobs data (trend data not so bad ... AUD does not care, drops)
Westpac comments, this in brief:
- surprisingly soft
- Australian economy is a long way away from the RBA's full employment aim of 4.5% and if the Bank wants to use monetary policy to drive the economy in that direction, it has a lot more work to do.
- the gradual pace of the deterioration will allow the RBA time to monitor the economy before having to act again
- we hold to our view that unemployment is likely to hit 5.6% my mid-2020
Huh. 5.6% soon. That sucks.
