2018.11.1420:45:00UTC+00Australia Unemployment Rate Unchanged At 5.0% In October

The jobless rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.0 percent in October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

That was unchanged from the September reading, although it was beneath expectations for 5.1 percent.

The Australian economy added 32,800 jobs last month to 12,671,500 - beating forecasts for 20,000 following the addition of 7,800 jobs in the previous month.

Full-time employment was up 42,300 to 8,703,700 following the addition of 24,600 in September. Part-time employment shed 9,500 jobs to 3,967,900 following the loss of 16,800 jobs a month earlier.

The participation rate was 65.6 percent - exceeding expectations for 65.5 percent, which would have been unchanged.

Unemployment increased 4,600 to 672,100. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 5,200 to 445,400 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work increased 9,800 to 226,700.

Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 6.1 million hours (0.3 percent) to 1,764.4 million hours.