Australian Jobless Rate Surpasses U.S. Rate

Australia’s jobless rate jumped to a 12-year high in July, surpassing the U.S. level for the first time since 2007, sending the local currency tumbling.

The unemployment rate rose to 6.4 percent from 6 percent, the statistics bureau said in Sydney today, versus the median estimate for unemployment to hold steady in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. The number of people employed fell by 300.

The data underscores the division in policy outlooks between the Federal Reserve, which markets bet will tighten next year, and the Reserve Bank of Australia’s flagged period of stability for its record-low benchmark. Australia is losing its developed-world-beating status as the mining investment boom that powered it through the global financial crisis wanes.

Bloomberg

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.