00:00After seven years at LinkedIn, Natalie MacDonald returned from mat leave this year and she got the call that many workers dread.
00:10I was part of a big round of layoffs.
00:13I had a really great payout but you do have that fear of what happens when the money runs out.
00:19I have two small children.
00:21LinkedIn's parent company Microsoft has been shedding thousands of jobs globally as it invests in AI.
00:28Other firms here like Westpac, Telstra and Atlassian are also axing staff but other industries like architecture are hiring.
00:37I'm fairly optimistic about the growth of the practice over the next number of years.
00:41That is showing up in official figures with Australia's unemployment rate dropping slightly in July to 4.2%
00:49thanks to 24,500 people finding work and around 10,000 leaving the jobless queue.
00:56This month's labour force data shows that there is a record number of Australians in jobs.
01:03Yes, the labour market's still tight but the overall trend is for a lid with a slackening.
01:07The Reserve Bank thinks the jobless rate won't get much worse this year
01:11but if it does, economists say they'll likely drop interest rates further after already lowering the cash rate this week.
01:18Natalie and her partner have a mortgage to pay.
01:21She's feeling hopeful about her prospects and is now launching her own consultancy firm.
01:26It's really exciting. It's scary but it's so wonderful.
01:29She's hoping to help other working mums with their careers as a record number of women join the workforce.
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