### POV: STILL ALL ABOUT THE LABOUR MARKET,.....>

RBA: ### POV: STILL ALL ABOUT THE LABOUR MARKET, SHOULD HOLD IN AUGUST

- The RBA's July minutes have re-affirmed that the Bank's outlook is labour mkt

centric. The Bank reiterated that "the Board would continue to monitor

developments in the labour mkt closely & adjust monpol if needed to support

sustainable growth in the econ & the achievement of the inflation target over

time."

- This was accompanied by cautious comments surrounding the labour mkt; "spare

capacity was likely to remain in the labour mkt for some time" &

"forward-looking indicators... suggested that growth in employment would

moderate over coming months."

- Without meaning to state the obvious, June's labour mkt report, due Thursday,

is key. The unemp. rate ticked up to 5.2% from 4.9% between Feb & Apr, and held

steady in May. Underemployment & utilisation metrics also need to be watched, as

do the raft of leading indicators that we have outlined before.

- The RBA will likely take a breath in Aug & leave the cash rate unch. at 1.00%,

after delivering back to back 25bp cuts, barring a horrendous print on Thursday.