Australia's jobless rate falls to 23-year-low of 5.5 percent

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2004

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australia's unemployment rate fell to a 23-year low of 5.5 percent in May, driven by a fall in the number of people looking for work, official figures showed.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the jobless rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 5.5 percent, from 5.6 percent in April, and was the ninth consecutive result under 6.0 percent.

A rate of less than 5.5 percent has not been seen since June 1981 and May's reading came in below analysts' forecasts of 5.6 percent.

The bureau said Thursday that total employment fell by 41,100 jobs to 9.66 million, with full-time jobs down 42,600 to a five-month low of 6.89 million while part-time employment rose by 1,500 to 2.75 million.

The number of people looking for work fell, with the...