Australia’s Job Market Loses Some Pep in October
Unemployment rate remained at 4.1% for a third month in a row
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SYDNEY—Australia’s job market showed signs of cooling down in October as employment growth for the month came in a little bit below expectations, albeit the jobless rate remained near its historic lows.
The economy churned out 15,900 new jobs in October, about 10,000 fewer than economists had expected, and well short of the spectacular gains seen in recent months, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.
Still, the unemployment rate remained at 4.1% for a third month in a row in October, continuing to track below where the Reserve Bank of Australia has forecast it would be.
With employment growth slowing over the month, October might mark the start of a slowdown in hiring, which many economists have been expecting given that interest rates remain elevated and the economy overall has been sluggish.
The conditions for a cut in official interest rates early in 2025 appear to be slowly falling into place with inflation in a steady retreat and the job market now showing tentative signs of slowing down, economists said.
Still, money market traders are less optimistic than economists about the potential for a cut in interest rates, with swap markets not fully pricing in an interest rate cut until August next year.
The October unemployment rate remained 0.6 percentage points above its recent low of 3.5% in June 2023, while being 1.1 percentage points below its level just prior to the pandemic, the ABS said.
The number of unemployed people in October was 67,000 higher than a year ago, but was still 82,000 people lower than in March 2020, the ABS added.
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Tech investor was one of the most outspoken supporters of Trump in Silicon Valley
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President-elect Donald Trump named a Silicon Valley investor close to Elon Musk as the White House’s artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency policy chief, signaling the growing influence of tech leaders and loyalists in the new administration .
David Sacks , a former PayPal executive, will serve as the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar,” Trump said on his social-media platform Truth Social.
“In this important role, David will guide policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness,” he posted.
Musk and Vice President-elect JD Vance chimed in with congratulatory messages on X.
Sacks was one of the first vocal supporters of Trump in Silicon Valley, a region that typically leans Democratic. He hosted a fundraiser for Trump in San Francisco in June that raised more than $12 million for Trump’s campaign. Sacks often used his “All-In” podcast to broadcast his support for the Republican’s cause.
The fundraiser drew several cryptocurrency executives and tech investors. Some attendees were concerned that America could lose its competitiveness in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence because of overregulation.
Many tech leaders had hoped the next president would have a friendlier stance on cryptocurrencies, which had come under scrutiny during the Biden administration.
“What the crypto industry has been asking for more than anything else is a clear legal framework to operate under. If Trump wins, the industry will get this, and more innovation will happen in the U.S.,” Sacks posted on X in July.
The tech industry has also pressed for friendlier federal policies around AI and successfully lobbied to quash a California AI bill industry leaders said would kill innovation.
Sacks’ venture-capital firm, Craft Ventures, has invested in crypto and AI startups. Sacks himself has led investment rounds in many. He has previously invested in companies such as Slack, SpaceX, Uber and Facebook.
Sacks was the former chief operating officer of PayPal, whose founders included Musk and Peter Thiel . The group, called the “PayPal mafia,” has been front and center this election because of its financial muscle and influence in drumming up support for Trump.
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