Australia Unemployment Holds Steady at 4.1% in January

CANBERRA: Australia’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1 per cent in January, defying expectations of a slight rise, according to new figures released on Thursday.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that full-time employment rose strongly over the month, with 50,500 more people in full-time jobs compared with December. However, this increase was partly offset by a fall of 32,700 in part-time employment.

The jobless rate had previously fallen from 4.3 per cent in November to 4.1 per cent in December and has now remained at that level for a second consecutive month.

Economists had widely forecast a modest increase to 4.2 per cent in January, making the steady figure an unexpected result.

The ABS also reported that the participation rate which measures the proportion of working-age people either in work or actively seeking employment stood at 66.7 per cent in January. This is lower than the record high of 67.3 per cent recorded a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the total number of hours worked across the economy rose by 0.6 per cent over the month, reaching 2.01 billion hours.

By RSS/AFP