2020.06.1802:15:00UTC+00Australia Jobless Rate Climbs To 7.1% In May

The unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 7.1 percent in May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - missing forecasts for 7.0 percent and up from the upwardly revised 6.4 percent in April (originally 6.2 percent).

The Australian economy shed 227,700 jobs last month to 12,154,100 - again missing estimates for a decline of 125,000 following the loss of 594,300 in the previous month.

Full-time employment decreased 89,100 to 8,540,000 people and part-time employment decreased 138,600 to 3,614,100 people.

Unemployment increased 85,700 to 927,600 people, while underemployment rate decreased 0.7 percent to 13.1 percent.

Underutilization rate increased less than 0.1 percent to 20.2 percent.

Monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased 12.1 million hours to 1,604.7 million hours.

The participation rate fell to 62.9 percent, missing expectations for 63.7 percent and down from 63.5 percent a month earlier.