The jobless rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.7 percent in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
That beat forecasts for 5.8 percent, which would have been unchanged from the December reading.
The Australian economy added 13,500 jobs in January to 11,998,200, beating forecasts for 10,000 after collecting 13,500 jobs in the previous month.
Full-time employment decreased 44,800 to 8,125,700 and part-time employment increased 58,300 to 3,872,500.
"We are still seeing strong growth in part-time employment in January 2017, and in recent months, increasing growth in full-time employment," said the General Manager of ABS' Macroeconomic Statistics Division, Bruce Hockman.
The participation rate slipped to 64.6 percent, shy of expectations for 64.7 percent, which would have been unchanged.
Unemployment decreased 19,300 to 720,200. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 16,000 to 511,000 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work decreased 3,300 to 209,200.
Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 10.2 million hours to 1,682.7 million hours.
by RTT Staff Writer
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