SYDNEY — The Reserve Bank of Australia has lowered its 2022 unemployment forecast, highlighting the continued momentum of the resource-rich economy despite rapidly rising interest rates and a jump in costs for households and businesses. With the unemployment rate already at a 48-year low of 3.5%, the RBA now expects the figure to fall to 3.25% by the end of this year. In May, the central bank had forecast that unemployment would only fall to 3.75% this year.
The downward revision comes as economists raise their forecasts for second-quarter gross domestic product growth, stoked by resilient consumer spending and a record terms of trade boom. Labor scarcity is in part being driven by a slow recovery in the supply of skilled international workers. That tightness expected to remain a feature of the economy for many years, with the RBA forecasting that it will still be at a historically low rate of 4% in late 2024. Job vacancies and advertisements are at exceptionally high levels, with many employers reporting that they can’t attract staff, the RBA said Friday in a quarterly update on the economic outlook. “Many employers have reported in liaison and business surveys that they pla …