Australia Dec. Employment -65.1K (expected +17.6K) Unemployment rate 3.9% (exp 3.9%)

<p>An ugly result, more than unwinding the strong November gain. </p><p>Further evidence that the tightness in the labour market is dissipating. A less-tight jobs market will take some of the heat from wage growth and in turn from inflationary pressures. While the RBA won't be celebrating job losses (not publicly anyway) they'll welcome this result for the inflation impact. </p><p>The part-time number is +41.5K</p><p>—</p><p>This is the final labour market report before the next Reserve Bank of Australia meeting, on February 5 and 6. There will be official inflation data, for the month of December and for the 4th quarter of 2023, prior to this meeting also. The inflation data is due on January 31.</p>

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.