Australian unemployment rate up at 5.3 percent

Australia, 21st August: Unemployment rate in Australia has gone up to 5.3 percent this July due to increase in the number of aspiring individuals for work in Australia compared to the number of new jobs.

This is likely to hurt the Australian government all the more as the country goes to national elections.

According to figures by ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics), unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in the month of June with the total number of people without jobs in Australia being 607,200. The figures for the month of July showed the total number of unemployed in Australia was 631,800. 

Unemployment rate among youth rose to 18 percent registering a biggest increase since October 2001. The jobless rate among young people aged 15-19 years has been the highest in the last 9 years with the total number of young unemployed went up to 152,000 in July from 145,000 in June(seasonally adjusted). 

Analysts had predicted the jobless rate in Australia to remain unchanged in the month July at 5.1 percent.

Experts felt surprised by the increase in the jobless rate in Australia. They think that the unpredicted hike in the unemployed people in Australia could be partly due to revised figures of Australian population showing that the number of potential workers in Australia is more than estimated previously.

The unemployment figures have reduced the possibility of a hike in the current interest rates of 4.5 percent by Australia’s central bank, the economists maintained. Senior strategist, TD Securities, Annette Beacher, said that the central bank will have to adopt a wait and watch policy for a couple of months to see the changes in the Australian unemployment rate.

Meanwhile, the number of persons having jobs in Australia was 11.23 million registering an increase of 23,500. This has been largely due to increase in the part-time jobs in Australia. Full-time jobs in Australia showed a decline, as per the official figures.

Australia’s first female PM(prime minister) Julia Gillard has announced incentives for jobless people searching jobs in Australia and also sought penalizing those who did not attend interviews for prospective jobs in Australia.