CANBERRA, Oct. 16 -- The Reserve Bank of Australia raised its cash rate to 4.60 percent on September 29, citing capacity pressures and an energy price shock. Sixteen days later the statistics office delivered a labour market that looks looser, and told readers to handle it with care.

Employment fell by 39,300 to 14,782,700 in seasonally adjusted terms, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Thursday, as part-time jobs dropped by 73,700 and full-time jobs rose by 34,400. The unemployment rate was 4.7 percent, with 732,000 people out of work, and participation slipped 0.2 points to 66.8 percent. The figures landed while Treasurer Jim Chalmers, whose 2026 budget TEH covered in May, was in Bangkok for the IMF and G20 meetings.

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