2018.02.1420:30:00UTC+00Australia January Unemployment Rate Falls To 5.5%

The jobless rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.5 percent in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

That was in line with expectations following the upwardly revised 5.6 percent reading in December (originally 5.5 percent).

The Australian economy added 16,000 jobs last month to 12,453,500 - beating forecasts for 15,000 following the downwardly revised 33,500 increase in the previous month (originally 34,700).

Full-time employment decreased 49,800 to 8,460,900 and part-time employment increased 65,900 to 3,992,600.

Unemployment decreased 7,900 to 723,800. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 4,500 to 497,800 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work decreased 3,400 to 226,000.

The participation rate came in at 65.6 percent - matching expectations and down from 65.7 percent a month earlier.

Monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased 24.1 million hours (1.4 percent) to 1,708.2 million hours.