Australia’s surprise unemployment spike suggests an economy not overheating but in need of stimulus

‘It is pretty clear that hours worked in market sector jobs – those that are truly driven by demand for goods and services – have been dropping fast.’ Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters

You didn’t vote for it, you weren’t even asked, but it was decided three years ago – mostly by those running the Reserve Bank – that Australia needed an extra 150,000 or so people to be unemployed. Back in 2022 Australia’s unemployment was 3.5%; last week the Bureau of Statistics announced it had reached 4.5% – roughly an extra 150,000 people out of work.

Goodbye full employment, welcome back the arbitrary higher level of people being out of a job for the good of the economy.