Australian employment boasted another solid gain in September while the jobless rate dipped for the first time in seven months as fewer people went looking for work, a tentative hint of a much-needed tightening in the labour market.
The local dollar blipped up a quarter of a cent to $0.6783 after Thursday's data showed 14,700 net new jobs were added in September, matching forecasts. Full-time positions made up all the gains with a rise of 26,200.
That helped nudge the jobless rate down a tick to 5.2%, from a one-year peak of 5.3%, the first drop since February when it got as low as 4.9%. The improvement will be welcome news to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) which has sought to revive the economy by cutting interest rates three times this year to a record low of 0.75%.
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