Unemployment rate tipped to remain steady despite escalating wage costs - Newsroom

After the surprise decision by the Reserve Bank to leave interest rates unchanged, attention this week will turn to the state of the labour market. Economists are picking the unemployment rate held steady in the September quarter at 5.6 percent, or possibly even fell slightly. Ahead of this weekend’s election, a lower unemployment rate and no change in the official cash rate would be a worthy economic combo for the Government to point to in the final days of campaigning. Andrew Patterson is Newsroom's Markets Editor and has worked for decades as a financial journalist, radio presenter and editor with Australia's ABC, Radio Live and NBR. More by Andrew Patterson