The unemployment rate in Australia was a seasonally adjusted 5.6 percent in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
That was beneath forecasts for 5.7 percent, which would have been unchanged from the previous month following a revision from 5.6 percent.
The Australian economy lost 9,800 jobs last month – well shy of expectations for an increase of 15,000 following the loss of 8,600 jobs in August.
Full-time employment fell by 53,000 persons, while part-time employment increased by 43,200 persons.
Seasonally adjusted monthly hours worked in all jobs increased by 4.0 million hours (0.24 percent) in September to 1,660.0 million hours.
The seasonally adjusted employment to population ratio decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 60.9 percent in September.
The participation rate fell to 64.5 percent versus expectations for 64.8 percent and down from 64.7 percent a month earlier.
By region, New South Wales and Tasmania both had increases in employment in September. The largest employment increase was in New South Wales (up 6,700 persons). The largest decrease was in Victoria (down 11,700 persons).
Decreases in the unemployment rate were seen across all states except Victoria (up 0.2 percentage points). Tasmania had the largest decrease of 0.7 percentage points to 6.5 per cent. The remaining states saw decreases of 0.1 percentage points.
by RTT Staff Writer
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