2018.09.1222:15:00UTC+00Australia Jobless Rate Unchanged At 5.3%

The jobless rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.3 percent in August, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous month.

The Australian economy added 44,000 jobs in August, beating forecasts for an increase of 18,000 following the loss of 3,900 jobs in July.

Full-time employment increased 33,700 to 8,630,700 and part-time employment increased 10,200 to 4,000,600.

Unemployment increased 5,800 to 708,800. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 7,500 to 494,800 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work increased 13,200 to 214,000.

The participation rate ticked up to 65.7 percent, beating forecasts for 65.6 percent and up from 65.5 percent in the previous month.

Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 0.6 million hours (0.03 percent) to 1,750.9 million hours.

The labor force underemployment rate decreased by 0.3 pts to 8.1 percent, while the underutilization rate decreased 0.4 pts to 13.4 percent.