Australia’s unemployment rate could hit 4% even as cost of living pressures grow

Economy bounces back from Omicron wave, but economists expect east coast floods to be reflected in March jobs figures

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The unemployment rate could hit 4% when the latest labour force figures are released this week, as the economy recovers from the impact of the Omicron variant.

The jobless rate touched 4% in February 2008 and again in August of that year under Kevin Rudd's Labor government, but has never been lower according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures stretching back to 1978.

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