Australia Jobless Rate Climbs To 4.1% In January

(RTTNews) - The unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.1 percent in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

That was above expectations for 4.0 percent and was up from 3.9 percent in December.

The Australian economy added just 500 jobs last month to 14,201,900 - well shy of forecasts for an increase of 26,400 jobs following the loss of 65,100 jobs in the previous month.

Full-time employment increased by 11,100 to 9,797,800 people, while part-time employment decreased by 10,600 to 4,403,500 people.

The participation rate was 66.8 percent, unchanged but shy of forecasts for 66.9 percent.