20.02.201920:30:00UTC+00Australia Unemployment Rate Unchanged At 5.0% In January

The jobless rate in Australia was a seasonally adjusted 5.0 percent in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - unchanged and in line with expectations.

The Australian economy added 31,900 jobs last month - blowing away forecasts for an increase of 15,000 jobs following the gain of 16,900 jobs in December.

Full-time employed persons increased 65,400 to 8,743,100 and part-time employed persons decreased 26,300 to 4,008,700.

Unemployed persons increased 6,600 to 673,500.

The seasonally adjusted underemployment rate fell 0.2 pts to 8.1 percent, while the monthly underutilization rate fell 0.1 pts to 13.2 percent.

The participation rate was 65.7 percent, exceeding expectations for 65.6 percent - which would have been unchanged from the previous month.

Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 6.6 million hours to 1766.4 million hours.