The unemployment rate in Australia dropped to a seasonally adjusted 5.8 percent in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
That beat forecasts for 6.0 percent, which would have been unchanged from the January reading.
The Australian economy added 300 jobs in February to 11,884,000 - well shy of forecast for an increase of 12,000 following the 7,500 decline in the previous month.
Full-time employment increased 15,900 to 8,192,600 and part-time employment decreased 15,600 to 3,691,500.
Unemployment decreased 27,300 to 732,600. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 18,200 to 525,200 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work decreased 9,100 to 207,400.
Monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased 2.0 million hours to 1,652.6 million hours.
The participation rate was 64.9 percent - also below forecasts for 65.2 percent and down from 65.1 following a 0.1 percent downward revision.
The labor force underutilization rate decreased 0.1 percent to 14.2 percent. The male labor force underutilization rate fell 0.1 percent to 12.3 percent. The female labor force underutilization rate fell 0.3 percent to 16.4 percent.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.