Australia’s unemployment rate has held steady at 4 per cent – unchanged from last month – defying expectations it could drop to a 50-year low.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday reported about 18,000 more people got jobs in March, missing market expectations, while monthly hours worked fell by 10 million hours.
Economists had expected the unemployment rate to fall to 3.9 per cent, which would have been the lowest since late 1974, and for 30,000 jxjmtzywobs to be added.
The rate is still expected to drop below 4 per cent sometime this year.
Full-time employment in March increased by 20,500 to 9,248,600 people, while those in part-time employment fell by 2,700 to 4,141,300 people.
Economists and homeowners will now be closely watching whether these figures will be enough for the Reserve Bank to hike interest rates for the first time in 12 years when it meets on May 3.
