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Jobless jump turns down heat on RBA, but not completely
AUSTRALIA’s jobs market is continuing to soften, taking pressure off the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates again. But questions around the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ labour force figures and stubborn inflation mean another hike remains firmly on the table. Unemployment came in at 4.7 per cent for a second straight month in September, the ABS revealed on Thursday, after August’s jobless rate was upwardly revised from 4.6 per cent. Economists had been expecting unemployment to stay at 4.6 per cent. A fall in employment by 39,300 was also softer than expectations
