The unemployment rate in Australia increased more than expected in June. reaching the highest level in 11-years, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed Thursday. The rise in the jobless rate came about due to a faster rate of increase in the number of unemployed individuals and an uptick in participation rate.
The unemployment rate increased to a seasonally adjusted 6 percent in June, more than the 5.9 percent consensus estimate. This marked a return to the 11-year peak which was recorded at the beginning of the year.
The unemployment rate in May, which was reported to be stable with April and March at 5.8 percent, was revised upwards to 5.9 percent.
The unemployment rate among women remained stable at 6 percent in June while the jobless rate among men climbed to 6 percent in June from 5.8 percent in May.
Compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, the unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points in June.
The jobless rate among people looking for full-time jobs rose to 6.3 percent in June from 6.2 percent in May, the highest rate since January. The total unemployed people looking for full time jobs increased 10,000 from the previous month to 543,000 in June.
The total number of unemployed people increased 20,300 over the month to 741,700 in June, with part time jobs rising 10,300 to 198,600.
The number of employed people also increased in June, rising by 15,900 to 11.58 million in June. Annually, employment rose 0.9 percent in June.
This was in trend with the increase in job advertisements in June, as reported earlier this week by ANZ Bank. Job ads rebounded by 4.3 percent month-over-month in June after declining 5.7 percent in May, driven by a 4.5 percent rise in Internet job ads.
The number of people in part-time employment increased 19,700 to 3.52 million in June. However, full-time employment decreased 3,800 over the month to 8.06 million in June.
The participation rate increased over the month to 64.7 percent in June from 64.6 percent in May. The participation rate among men rose to 70.9 percent in June from 70.8 percent in May and among women it remained stable at 58.6 percent.
However, on a year-over-year basis, the participation rate decreased 0.4 percentage points.
Earlier this week, the results of a survey by Westpac revealed that Australia's consumer confidence increased marginally in June but remained weaker than average.
Also from earlier this week, the National Australian Bank said that business confidence strengthened in June despite the government's challenging budget.
