Australia’s unemployment rate fell 0.2% to 4.9% in June – the lowest level in a decade. Almost 30,000 jobs were created in the month, bringing the total number of people employed to 13.15 million. Tracking in the opposite direction, though, was underemployment (aka those in work but could do more hours). It rose 0.5% to 7.9% in June because of Victoria’s lockdown. At Budget time, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that wages growth wouldn’t happen until unemployment had a “4 in front of it”. Yesterday, he described June’s result as a milestone that was “very significant”. The dark cloud: “challenging days ahead” thanks to COVID outbreaks.