Key snippets from the minutes of the RBA's......>

RBA: Key snippets from the minutes of the RBA's July meeting:

- The Board would continue to monitor developments in the labour market closely

and adjust monetary policy if needed to support sustainable growth in the

economy and the achievement of the inflation target over time.

- Employment growth continued to outpace growth in the working-age population.

However, most of the strength in labour demand ... had been met by an increase

in participation, which had risen to a record high ... rather than a decline in

the unemployment rate. Although there had been a modest pick-up in wages growth

in the pvt sector, wages growth remained low overall ... these factors suggested

that spare capacity was likely to remain in the labour mkt for some time.

- Consumption had grown by 1.8% over the year to the March quarter, which was

well below avg. Members noted that, in per capita terms, consumption had been

broadly flat. Growth in h'hold spending on essential items had been relatively

steady, while the level of spending on discretionary items had fallen in Q1.

This weakness had been broadly based across the states & recent retail trade

data suggested that discretionary spending had remained soft in Q2.