Economic News

At first glance, two of the labour market figures Michele Bullock cited at her 29 September media conference seem to pull in opposite directions. The unemployment rate, she noted, is now 4.6 per cent, up from about 3.5 per cent a couple of years …

Forecast tables rarely make headlines, but the employment row in the RBA's August 2026 Statement on Monetary Policy tells a quiet story about the jobs market. Year-ended employment growth was 1.1 per cent in June 2026. Staff expected it to pick up to 1.4 …

One week before the cash rate target was raised to 4.60 per cent, a member of the body that made that decision put a pointed question on the public record. On 22 September 2026, in Melbourne, Iain Ross AO, a member of the Monetary …

At first glance, two observations in the minutes of the RBA's September 2026 Monetary Policy Board meeting seem to pull in opposite directions. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6 per cent in August. Yet most leading indicators pointed to stable labour demand, and some …

Ask most people what drives inflation and they will mention petrol, groceries or rent. Ask a central banker and the answer may well include a less familiar measure: unit labour costs. The minutes of the RBA's September 2026 Monetary Policy Board meeting state that …

A rise in the unemployment rate from about 3.5 per cent to 4.6 per cent over a couple of years might suggest a jobs market with plenty of spare capacity. Yet when the Monetary Policy Board met on 28–29 September 2026, it raised the …

Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock acknowledged at her 29 September media conference that pay has been losing ground to prices, even as she rejected the idea that wages are driving inflation.