MW: Australia's jobless rate falls to 5.5% in December
By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Australia's jobless rate eased slightly in December, with the economy adding more than three times as many jobs as economists had forecast.
The nation's unemployment rate, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, fell 0.1% to 5.5% from a revised 5.6% in November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.
The number of people employed in December climbed by 35,200 to a seasonally adjusted 10.906 million, data showed.
On average, economists expected an unemployment rate of 5.8%, with the number of employed up 10,000, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
The number of people with part-time employment increased by 27,900 persons to 3.271 million, while the number with full-time employment climbed 7,300 to 7.635 million, according to the data.
