Australia's unemployment rate came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.8 percent in August, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - in line with forecasts and up from 5.7 percent in July.
But the Australian economy lost 10,800 jobs in August - missing by a mile forecasts that had suggested an increase of 10,000 jobs. That follows the loss of 10,200 jobs in the previous month.
Full-time employment decreased 2,600 to 8,128,800 and part-time employment decreased 8,200 to 3,508,300.
Unemployment increased 9,400 (1.3 percent) to 714,100. The number of persons looking for full-time work decreased 2,300 to 516,300 and the number of persons looking for part-time work increased 11,700 to 197,800.
The participation rate was 65.0 percent versus forecasts for 65.2 percent and down from 65.1 percent a month earlier.
Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 1.1 million hours to 1,650.0 million hours.
The labor force underutilization rate increased 0.7 points to 13.7 percent. The male labor force underutilization rate increased 0.6 points to 11.8 percent. The female labor force underutilization increased 0.8 points to 15.9 percent.
Upon the release of the data, the Australian dollar declined against other major currencies, trading near 0.9296 against the greenback, 1.4327 against the euro, 1.1416 against the kiwi and 92.60 against the yen.
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