Unemployment steady at 4.1% despite loss of 52,800 jobs

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The economy lost more than 50 thousand jobs during February. Surprisingly, the monthly jobless rate did not change mostly due to the thousands of older workers who stopped looking or retired shrinking the size of the labour force.

Transcript

00:00While business at this restaurant is heating up, finding the right staff is proving harder

00:07than ever.

00:08We have a lot of applications come through weekly for jobs for front of house and kitchen

00:13and things like that.

00:14But it doesn't mean that they're all hireable.

00:16In February, almost 53,000 jobs were lost from the economy.

00:21There were 11,200 fewer people out of work, with many deciding to leave the workforce

00:27largely to retire, pushing the participation rate down.

00:31That kept unemployment steady at 4.1 per cent.

00:35Baby boomers will choose to retire when their financial circumstances allow them to do so.

00:39But we are still seeing many new jobs created for younger people.

00:43Australians are working harder for less.

00:47In the last 12 months, they're working more hours and they're getting less for it.

00:53What many people want to know, of course, is what does this mean for rates?

00:56Three of the big four banks are forecasting a cut in May, but that will depend on the

01:01next round of quarterly inflation figures, which are due to be released next month.

01:06The job market overall has been pretty strong, so the February result is somewhat of an outlier

01:11compared to what we have seen over the past six months or so.

01:14So the RBA won't be too concerned about that result, unless we see further weakness in

01:19the month of March.

01:20May is still a live meeting with a possibility of a rate cut, but on the balance of data

01:26right now, we don't think there'll be a rate cut in May either.

01:30The ANZ research forecast is that the next cut will occur in August and that that will

01:35be the last cut.

01:36A rate cut could mean more customers at Hayley's Restaurant as the search for candidates continues.

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