[Siliespiriulk]

Hee Hee Hee

Oh what will happen to housing prices after October? Will they sink another $100,000 from $560,000 in Perth to the current $430,0000

Will Houses cost $330,000 dollars then?

Hee Hee Hee

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...005961,00.html

Unemployment rate hits 5.8pc in June


Australia's unemployment rate came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.8 per cent in June, up from 5.7 per cent the previous month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.

The result was slightly better than economists' forecasts of 5.9 per cent.

The last time Australia's unemployment rate was at 5.8 per cent was in October 2003.

The nation's jobless rate has risen 1.9 percentage points in the past 15 months after reaching a 33-year low of 3.9 per cent in February 2008.

Citi senior economist Josh Williamson said the figures supported the view that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) was probably finished cutting interest rates.

"This report doesn't add anything to the case for interest rate cuts," Mr Williamson said.

"I think it probably fits more more with the RBA's view that the glass is half full at the moment, and the fact that certainly the impact on the labour market could be less than was feared three or six months ago."

Total employment fell by 21,400 in June, slightly below market expectations of a 20,000 decline, the ABS said.

There were 21,900 full-time jobs lost in the month, but part-time employment increased by 400.
A slight reduction in the participation rate in June to 65.3 per cent, from 65.4 per cent the previous month, contributed to a less than expected rise in the unemployment rate.

The RBA has kept the cash rate unchanged at a 49-year low of three per cent for the past three months.

Mr Williamson said the labour force report could have been "potentially a lot worse".

"It's a fairly encouraging result to see that the unemployment rate remains low given where we are in the slowdown compared to previous contractions in economic activity," Mr Williamson said.

Treasury forecasts published in the 2009-10 federal budget papers indicated the unemployment rate was expected to reach 8.25 per cent at the end of 2009-10 before peaking at 8.5 per cent in 2010-11.

The dollar reacted positively to the data.

The local currency was trading at $US0.7803 just before the report was published at 11:30 (AEST), but rose to $US0.7818 shortly afterwards.

Recent private sector surveys of employment have been mixed.

The ANZ job advertisements series showed the number of vacancies in newspapers and on the internet fell 6.7 per cent in June.

But reports from the Australian Industry Group provided some encouragement that the labour market was holding up well.

The performance of manufacturing index (PMI) showed the rate of job losses eased for a second straight month, with firm in the food and beverages, as well as clothing and footwear industries actually adding workers.

The performance of services index (PSI) showed employment "grew strongly" in the business related sectors of finance and insurance, and communication services. Retailers also hired staff in June.

In announced job cuts in June, West Australian Newspaperssaid it would reduce full-time staffing levels by five per cent, or about 70 positions.

Also, the Tasmanian government last month called for voluntary redundancy after announcing in its state budget plans to cut 800 public service workers.

[bestformaldress23]

Ha Ha Ha Ha

What a bunch of losers in Oz

[ResuNezily]

Ozzie go down the drain