At the same time, overall employment was broadly steady. Looking ahead, total hours worked are expected to decline by 3–4 per cent in the September quarter. There is uncertainty about the unemployment rate for the reasons I just spoke about, but it would not be surprising to see readings in the high fives for a short period of time.
But I do want to stress that the financial system is not an island. It is very much interlinked with other domains in our economies and societies. I think it's good to keep this in mind when discussing the challenges financial markets face today.