Australia unemployment rate hits four-year high of 4.5 per cent in September

Unemployment has hit its highest level in four years, putting renewed pressure on the Reserve Bank to look at a rate cut at its meeting next month.

The unemployment rate hit 4.5 per cent – up from 4.3 per cent – as the number of people out of work climbed from 650,000 in August to 684,000 in September, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed.

That’s despite the number of people in jobs climbing by nearly 15,000. Total job growth over the past 12 months has slowed to 1.3 per cent with the country adding 190,500 positions. Total unemployment, however, has jumped by 12.6 per cent, or 76,800.

The latest statistics put pressure on the Reserve Bank to consider cutting interest rates at its meeting in the first week of November. The bank had forecast the unemployment r