Australia jobless rate ticked higher in April, job additions beat estimates

The Australian economy added 22.6K jobs in April, still, the unemployment rate ticked higher to 5.6 percent from the previous month's reading of 5.5 percent, the Australian Bureau Statistics (ABS) data showed.

Economists were expecting employment change (job additions) of 20K vs downwardly revised -0.7K in March.

April Key Points

Trend Estimates (Monthly Change)

• Employment increased 13,800 to 12,505,200.
• Unemployment increased 1,400 to 733,300.
• The unemployment rate remained steady at 5.5%.
• Participation rate increased by less than 0.1 pts to 65.7%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 4.7 million hours (0.27%) to 1,749.4 million hours.

Seasonally Adjusted Estimates (Monthly Change)

• Employment increased 22,600 to 12,501,000. Full-time employment increased 32,700 to 8,543,400 and part-time employment decreased 10,000 to 3,957,700.
• Unemployment increased 10,600 to 741,000. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 17,100 to 506,100 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work increased 27,600 to 234,900.
• The unemployment rate increased by 0.1 pts to 5.6%.
• Participation rate increased by 0.1 pts to 65.6%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 19.4 million hours (1.11%) to 1,764.0 million hours.