SYDNEY, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- A continuing weak job market in Australia could lead to more interest rate cuts in the coming year, said economists on Thursday.
According to data released from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday, the Australian unemployment rate increased to 5.3 percent in November from 5.2 percent in October.
The number of unemployed people rose 9,400 to 635,800 in November, the ABS reported.
Total employment fell 6,300 to 11.46 million in the month, widely missing the market median forecast for a 10,000 rise.
Chief economist Shane Oliver at Australia's specialist investment manager AMP Capital Investors said the labor market was softening as expectations for the economy turned sour.
"The economy outside mining has been quite weak so companies have had to start laying people off to get their costs under control," he said.
Oliver predicted that Australians would see more interest rate cuts by the central bank in 2012 if the labor market continued weakening.
"The reality is we'll probably see more weakness, going forward, which I think will justify more rate cuts next year," he said.
Australia's major investment bank Macquarie Group senior economist Brian Redican said strong growth in some sectors of the Australian economy did not translate through into stronger employment.
"That suggests for 2012 there will be weaker consumer spending, greater downside risk for businesses and this is, of course, even before the full impact of the European debt crisis," Redican said.
"These kind of jobs numbers, the possibility of a very low inflation rate in the fourth quarter would certainly all be consistent with the Reserve Bank trimming rates once again."
