(Bloomberg) -- Australia’s jobless rate fell in September to 5 percent -- a level estimated by policy makers to signal the beginning of labor shortages -- but the driving force was fewer people seeking work.
Australia’s jobless rate -- a key metric for the Reserve Bank-- has edged lower this year, even as the impact of solid hiring is tempered by a burgeoning workforce. Policy makers have kept their key interest rate at a record low for a prolonged stretch to help boost hiring and spur the economy, which expanded at the fastest pace in six years in the second quarter.
That, in time, should rekindle inflation and potentially clear the path for the first rate hike since 2010; however, traders see little prospect of that happening in the next 12 months.