Australia Oct Labor Data Dovish for RBA Dec Meeting

By Sophia Rodrigues

Australia's unemployment rate rose to 5.3% in October from 5.2%, due to 19,000 fall in employed numbers. This was first fall in employed numbers since May 2018 and only the second drop since Sep 2016. That's how strong the labor market has been in the last three years or should we say five years. It is rare in recent years to see rise in unemployment rate when participation rate declines (66.0% from 66.1%). The last time this happened was in Feb 2018 and before that in May 2014. This is the most worrying bit of the overall weak labor force data for October, and one that would have implications for RBA's Dec cash rate decision.