Australian Employers Cut Workers, Lifting Jobless Rate to 5.3%

Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Australian employers unexpectedly cut workers for a second month in August, sending the nation’s currency, stocks and bond yields lower as investors added to bets the central bank will reduce interest rates.

The number of people employed fell by 9,700, after a revised 4,100 drop in July, the statistics bureau said in Sydney today. That compares with economists’ median estimate for a gain of 10,000 workers. The jobless rate rose to 5.3 percent, the highest since October 2010, from 5.1 percent.

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