Australia’s unemployment rate has jumped to 6 per cent for the first time in more than a decade.
The Bureau of Statistics estimates that 3,700 jobs were lost in January, pushing the unemployment rate from 5.8 up to 6 per cent – the first time it has reached that level since July 2003.
That jobless rate of 6 per cent tops the figure reached during the height of the global financial crisis, when unemployment peaked at 5.9 per cent in June 2009.
All of the jobs lost were full-time, with an estimated 7,100 positions going, while 3,400 part-time jobs were added.
Despite the loss of full-time positions, the ABS estimate of aggregate monthly hours worked last month rose 1.3 per cent to 1.64 billion.
The participation rate, which measures the proportion of people in work or looking for it, remained steady at 64.5 per cent, but is down 0.8 percentage points over the past year.
On the more stable trend figures, unemployment edged higher from 5.8 to 5.9 per cent, while participation eased from 64.6 to 64.5 per cent in January.
Tasmania continues to have the nation’s highest unemployment rate at 7.6 per cent, but it has been on the way down since a peak above 8 per cent earlier this year.
Victoria’s unemployment rate of 6.4 per cent is the state’s worst since January 2002.
However, the biggest monthly rise in the unemployment rate occurred in Western Australia, where the jobless rate jumped from 4.6 per cent last month to 5.1 per cent, seasonally adjusted.
source: abc.net.au
