The Australian Bureau of Statistics released new figures this morning showing that the jobless rate went up to 4.3 percent in June, a rise from 4.1 percent, where it had been stable since January.

Economists had widely expected the figure to remain steady for what would have been the sixth consecutive month.

The rise came as about 38,000 people were out of full-time work last month, although 40,000 gained a part-time job.

“This month, we observed a 0.2 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate, due to a rise of 34,000 in the number of unemployed individuals,” stated Sean Crick, the ABS head of labour statistics.

“This month we saw a decrease in full-time hours worked, down 1.3 per cent, associated with a 0.4 per cent fall in full-time employees.”

Persistently low unemployment has been one of the driving factors behind the RBA’s caution in reducing interest rates over the past year, and the new data comes just a week after the central bank defied expectations by keeping the cash rate on hold.

Governor Michele Bullock and her monetary policy board will hold their next meeting in four weeks, with an interest rate decision to be handed down on August 12.

Prior to the release of the jobs data, financial markets had been pricing in a 91 per cent chance of a cut next month.