Large mortgages to buy and build in Sydney are contributing to a slowdown in the state’s jobs market.Credit:Tamara Voninski
NSW was at the heart of the worse-than-expected result,with the state’s jobless rate rising by 0.6 percentage points to 4.1 per cent.
Unemployment in NSW was at a national low of 2.9 per cent in June. Since then,more than 33,000 full-time jobs have disappeared of which 22,000 had been held by women. The jobless rate among the state’s men,which reached a record low of 2.8 per cent in May,has now climbed to 4.2 per cent.
Over the same period,the number of unemployed people has climbed by 54,100 or almost 41 per cent to 186,100,the largest number of people out of work in NSW in two years.
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By contrast,the jobless rate in Victoria fell by 0.1 percentage points to 3.9 per cent. It is now the only state with unemployment under 4 per cent with an extra 30,000 jobs created in Victoria since June.
NSW residents are the most exposed to the big lift in official interest rates,with the state’s average new mortgage the highest in the nation at $785,000. The next largest mortgages are in Canberra at $622,000.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers,who said the lift in unemployment was in line with expectations,argued that different parts of the country would be affected by the RBA’s tightening of monetary policy.