RBA deputy governor: surprised employment growth has been so strong
Recasts, adds quotes from Hauser and background throughout
SYDNEY, Oct 21 (Reuters) -Australia's central bank has been surprised by the strength of employment growth, a top official said on Monday, adding policymakers remained ready to respond to changes in economic outlook in either direction.
In a speech in Sydney, Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser said there were a number of interpretations on the strong labour market. It could be because demand conditions are a bit too strong or the supply side of the economy is relatively weak, he said.
Australian employment beat forecasts for a sixth straight month in September, while the jobless rate held steady at 4.1%, reinforcing the view that the labour market remains tight and dimming market bets on near-term rate cuts.
"We're data dependent, but we're not data obsessed," Hauser said at a Commonwealth Bank of Australia conference. "So we have to take that number in the context of everything else."
"We will obviously react to it because that data outturn affects our view about the outlook, but it is the implication of the data for the outlook, not the data itself, that should be most relevant to policy."
The economy has slowed to a crawl in the face of high interest rates, but underlying inflation has been sticky with the labour market only easing at a gradual pace, leaving markets implying just a 26% probability of a rate cut in December.
Swaps imply a first rate cut is only fully priced in for April next year.
"We are acutely conscious that the outlook is uncertain and the world could develop in a number of different ways... We wanted to send a very clear signal that policy is ready to respond in either direction," Hauser said.
The RBA has kept rates steady since November, judging the cash rate of 4.35% - up from a record-low 0.1% during the pandemic - is restrictive enough to bring inflation to its target band of 2%-3% while preserving employment gains.
"It was a deliberate choice for us not to tighten as much as we could have done in order to try and protect those employment gains," Hauser said.
That means inflation is taking time to subside and rates will not fall as much or as early as they might do elsewhere, he added.
Reporting by Stella Qiu in Sydney; Editing by Alasdair Pal and Jamie Freed
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
