Unemployment jumps to 4.6% as RBA prepares for rates decision

Six thousand Australians lost full-time work in August, nudging the national unemployment rate to 4.6 percent — the highest since the pandemic's end — in a quiet signal that the economy may be beginning to respond to the Reserve Bank's sustained pressure. The data arrives days before the RBA's September 29 rate decision, where policymakers must weigh whether the labor market is cooling at the pace they intended or faster than they can safely manage. It is the oldest tension in monetary policy: the tools that slow inflation are the same ones that cost people their livelihoods, and the art lies