February Unemployment Results

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said Australia's unemployment rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 5.3% in February, from a revised 5.2% in January, and that 400 new jobs were created in the month.

Unemployment was in line with expectations, but new jobs fell short with economists having expected 15,000 new jobs.

The number of people in full-time work rose by 11,400 to 7.66m in February from 7.65m in January, while the number of people in part-time work fell 11,000 to 3.31m from 3.32m.

The Bureau said its seasonally adjusted workforce participation rate, the proportion of working-age persons at work or actively seeking work, fell to 65.2% in February from 65.3% in January.

Aggregate monthly hours worked rose 2.4% in February from January to 1.55bn hours, reversing a trend in which hoursworked remained low even as thousands of jobs were added.