Today’s release of the – Labour Force data – for September 2015 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the Australian labour market went backwards this month after stalling last month. Employment growth was negative (drop of 5,100 thousand) and the participation rate fell by 0.2 points. The net result was that the labour force fell faster than employment and so unemployment fell by 8,100 thousand. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.2 per cent. This is one of those times when falling unemployment is not a good signal. The unemployment rate would have risen to 6.3 per cent had not the participation declined. The teenage labour market went backwards again in September and their situation remains parlous. We are still waiting to see how much damage the the forecasted decline in private investment will bring. But with a weakening labour market and the Federal government intent on cutting its net spending over the next 12 months, the outlook looks rather depressing.