Employment rate falls back into line

A more than 55,000-increase in full-time jobs helped the unemployment rate fall back to 5.2 per cent after last month's unexpected rise.

This was despite yet another rise in the number of people joining the labour force.

The news pushed the Australian dollar almost half a US cent higher. It was trading at US98.4c just after the data was published at 11.30am, up from US97.91c.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data published today showed the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell 0.2 points in November. It comes after October's surprise increase to 5.4 per cent, reported a month ago.

That increase was largely caused by a surge in the labour force participation rate - the proportion of the population that is either working or actively looking for work. It rose 0.3 points to a record high of 65.9 per cent, and today's data shows it increased even further to 66.1 per cent in November.

The unemployment rate fell because of a much bigger than expected increase in new jobs, especially full time jobs.

''The ABS reported the number of people employed increased by 54,600 people to 11.417 million, seasonally adjusted, in November. The rise in employment was driven by an increase in full-time employment, up 55,100 people to 8.033 million. That was slightly offset by a decrease in part-time employment, down 400 people to 3.384 million,'' the bureau said.

''The number of people unemployed decreased by 19,500 people to 627,800 in November.''

Economists had expected 20,000 jobs would be created in the month, and the participation rate would fall to 65.8 per cent.

The ACT lost sole possession of the lowest unemployment rate in the country, but the rate lifted to 3.1 per cent in trend terms. This was the same as the Northern Territory.

The ACT's rate for October, reported a month ago, was 3 per cent, although this figure was revised up to 3.1 per cent in today's data.

The bureau does not report a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the ACT.

The national youth unemployment rate fell from 17.5 per cent to 17 per cent.

Australians also worked more hours in November. Seasonally adjusted monthly aggregate hours worked rose 0.7 million hours to 1.6 billion hours in November.

Source: The Canberra Times