2017.09.1322:16:00UTC+00Australia Unemployment Rate Unchanged At 5.6%

The unemployment rate in Australia held steady at a seasonally adjusted 5.6 percent in August, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the July reading.

The Australian economy added 54,200 jobs to 12,269,000 in August, beating forecasts for an addition of 20,000 jobs following the addition of 27,900 jobs in the previous month.

The participation rate ticked up to 65.3 percent - exceeding expectations for 65.1 percent, which would have been unchanged.

Full-time employment increased 40,100 to 8,392,300 and part-time employment increased 14,100 to 3,876,700.

Unemployment decreased 1,100 to 727,500. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work increased 6,400 to 501,600 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work decreased 7,500 to 225,900.

Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 6.1 million hours (0.4 percent) to 1,705.4 million hours.

The labor force underemployment rate decreased 0.2 points to 8.6 percent. The underutilization rate fell 0.2 points to 14.1 percent.