Australia Adds Most Jobs in 2 Years

Australian employers added the most jobs in more than two years last month as the central bank’s plan to spur growth with record-low interest rates bears fruit.

The number of people employed rose by 42,700, the biggest gain since March 2012 and almost three times the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 15,000, statistics bureau data showed in Sydney today. The unemployment rate climbed to 6.3 percent, a 12-year high, as more people entered the labor force seeking work.

The job gains were highest in New South Wales and Victoria, reflecting the re-emergence of a two-speed economy in Australia led by the east coast, where house prices are also booming. The Reserve Bank of Australia has kept its benchmark rate at 2.5 percent for 16 months as it seeks to foster a transition to domestic growth drivers from waning resource investment and soak up unemployed miners in the nation’s north and west.

Bloomberg

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