The government is expected to address soaring youth unemployment at its Third Plenum next month
AFP

Australia's unemployment rate held steady at 4.1% in October, even as experts voiced concerns that the employment growth progression slowed dramatically, compared to previous months.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the number of people with full-time jobs increased by 9,700 last month, while the part-time rose by by 6,200, taking the total growth to 15,900.

Economists were sounding the alarm about a potential slowing job market, consistent with Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) predictions. RBA had foreseen the scenario, predicting the unemployment rate to rise to 4.3% by year-end, ABC reported.

"While it seems improbable that this slowdown will push the unemployment rate to the RBA's forecast of 4.3% by December, it provides the central bank with the breathing room to maintain its focus on inflation and keep rates in restrictive territory into year-end, all without any significant signs of deterioration in the labor market," IG analyst Tony Sycamore told Sky News.

Reacting to the unemployement rate, EY Oceania chief economist Cherelle Murphy, "It suggests the labour market will not grow jobs quite as quickly as it has been."

ABS head of labor statistics, Bjorn Jarvis, said there was a mere 0.1% increase in employment.

"This was lower than each of the previous six months, when employment rose by an average of 0.3 per cent per month," he said.

Markets predict a mere 10% chance of a Christmas Eve rate cut, with a 25-basis-point reduction expected in August, unchanged by the current data.

The steady 4.1% unemployment rate is a major reason why Anders Magnusson, BDO Economics Partner, believes the Reserve Bank will maintain interest rates in December.

"I expect the RBA to continue with its cautionary approach of holding the cash rate until it is satisfied that underlying annual CPI inflation is sustainably within the target band of 2 to 3 per cent," he said.

Australia's wage price index increased for the third quarter in a row by 0.8% in the September quarter, marking the lowest yearly increase since December 2022, at 3.5%. With wages increasing 0.8%, which was in line with the previous quarter but less than the 1.4% seen during the same period last year, the private sector was the main driver of this growth.