The jobless rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.5 percent in May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
That beat forecasts for 5.7 percent, which would have been unchanged from the April reading.
The Australian economy added 42,000 jobs to 12,152,600 in May – well above forecasts for 10,000 following the upwardly revised 46,100 added in the previous month (originally 37,400).
Full-time employment increased 52,100 to 8,287,400 and part-time employment decreased 10,100 to 3,865,200.
Unemployment decreased 18,600 to 711,900. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 23,000 to 489,300 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work increased 4,400 to 222,700.
The participation rate was 64.9 percent – topping expectations for 64.8 percent, which would have been unchanged.
Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 31.1 million hours (1.87 percent) to 1,695.3 million hours.
The labor force underemployment rate decreased 0.1 points to 8.8 percent. The underutilization rate decreased 0.4 points to 14.4 percent.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com
Economic News
What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
