The jobless rate in Australia was a seasonally adjusted 5.8 percent in December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
That was unchanged from the November reading, and it beat forecasts for 5.9 percent.
The Australian economy lost 1,000 jobs in December to 11,902,300 - which also topped forecasts for a decline of 10,000 jobs following the addition of 71,400 jobs in the previous month.
Full-time employment saw an increase of 17,600 jobs in December to 8,228,700 following the spike of 41,600 a month earlier.
Part-time employment was down 18,500 jobs to 3,673,600 following the 29,700 increase in November.
Unemployment decreased 10,900 to 727,500. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 2,600 to 515,000 while the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work decreased 8,400 to 212,500.
"The trend shows that around 312,000 more people were employed in December 2015 than in December 2014. Full-time employment growth was stronger than part-time over the year, increasing by 186,600 people," said Bruce Hockman, General Manager of ABS' Macroeconomic Statistics Division.
The increase in employment has contributed to the trend employment to population ratio rising over the year from 60.6 percent to 61.4 percent, while the unemployment rate has decreased over the year from 6.2 percent to 5.8 percent.
The participation rate was 65.1 percent - missing forecasts for 65.2 percent and down from 65.3 percent a month earlier.
Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 0.3 million hours to 1,645.2 million hours.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Economic News
What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
December 26, 2025 08:42 ET Third quarter economic growth data from some major economies including the U.S. were the main news in this holiday shortened week. GDP growth and industrial production data from the U.S. helped to boost morale, while the consumer confidence survey results were less upbeat. In Europe, the quarterly economic growth data from the U.K. drew attention, while the minutes of the Australian central bank’s latest policy session was in focus in Asia.