Australia jobs jump again, heaping pressure on RBA

SYDNEY  -Australia employment handily beat expectations for a second straight month in June, while the jobless rate stayed near 50-year lows in a sign the labor market remained drum-tight and pushing the local dollar higher.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed net employment rose by 32,600 in June from May, when they surged by a startlingly strong 76,600. Market forecasts had been for an increase of 15,000.

The jobless rate held at a downwardly revised 3.5 percent, when analysts had expected 3.6 percent, leaving it just above the 3.4 percent trough from October last year.

The Australian dollar rose 0.8 percent to $0.6829, reversing a four-session losing streak, while thee three-year bond futures fell 12 ticks to 96.1.

The resilience of the labor market is one reason why the Reserve Bank of Australia may have more work to do to bring inflation down, after jacking up the interest rates by 400 basis points to an 11-year high of 4.1 percent in just 14 months.

Markets moved to priced in a 42- percent probability that RBA would resume hiking in August, compared with 35 percent before the jobs data.

The incoming RBA Governor Michele Bullock has said that jobless rate would need to rise to about 4.5 percent to curb inflation.

The labor market has been defying expectations for a slowdown. Australian job advertisements resumed their declines in June, according to industry figures, but remained 52 percent above pre-COVID levels.