{"id":862364,"date":"2026-08-20T19:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T19:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/862364\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T19:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T19:52:12","slug":"unemployment-unexpectedly-rises-as-experts-issue-warning-to-households","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/862364\/","title":{"rendered":"Unemployment unexpectedly rises as experts issue warning to households"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia<\/a>\u2019s unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 4.5 per cent in July, as 15,800 people lost their jobs. <\/p>\n

The seasonally adjusted figure rose 0.1 per cent on the previous month in weaker-than-expected results released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday. <\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

The unemployment rate has recorded a surprise jump.\u00a0Sam Mooy\/The Sydney Morning Herald<\/p>\n

The number of unemployed people rose by 4200 to 691,500, while the participation rate dropped 0.2 per cent to 66.9 per cent. <\/p>\n

Experts said it was still too early to say whether the figures would dramatically shift the Reserve Bank of Australia\u2019s position on interest rates. <\/p>\n

BNY market strategist Wee Khoon Chong said the latest data was an initial sign that tight labour market conditions were easing \u2013 which could aid the case for those arguing against further rate hikes \u2013 but warned that unemployment can be volatile. <\/p>\n

\u201cNext week\u2019s July inflation data will be a more important anchor point for the RBA outlook,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe maintain our view that it is too early to call an end to the tightening cycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith elevated crude oil prices and still-tight labour conditions posing upside inflation risks, we see a chance for further monetary policy tightening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ebury economist Anthony Malouf said the slow labour market is unlikely to shift the RBA\u2019s stance. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the July print may offer the RBA some confidence that the labour market is loosening as intended, which in turn should help ease inflation pressures over time,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe data also reinforces our long-standing view that the RBA\u2019s hiking cycle is over, with focus now turning to July\u2019s CPI print due next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Experts believe Thursday\u2019s figures will not sway the Reserve Bank.\u00a0Louie Douvis<\/p>\n

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was unsurprising to see unemployment tick up considering the global challenges. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that our unemployment rate remains relatively low in the face of so much global uncertainty, reflects the resilience of Australia\u2019s economy,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cMore than 1.25 million jobs have been created on our watch, most of them full-time.\u201d <\/p>\n

Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume said more and more Australians are out of work and chasing jobs. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not what a strong labour market looks like \u2013 it is what happens when job opportunities fail to keep pace with the people looking for work,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 4.5 per cent in July, as 15,800 people lost their jobs. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-862364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}