The unemployment rate in Australia climbed to 6.0 percent in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
That compared to forecasts for 5.8 percent, which would have been unchanged from the December reading.
The Australian economy lost 7,900 jobs in January to 11,894,500 - missing by far the forecast for an increase of 13,000 following the 1,000 decline in the previous month.
Full-time employment decreased 40,600 to 8,185,800 and part-time employment increased 32,700 to 3,708,700.
Unemployment increased 30,200 to 761,400. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work increased 25,600 to 544,100 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work increased 4,600 to 217,300.
The participation rate was 65.2 percent, in line with expectations and unchanged from a month earlier.
Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 10.9 million hours to 1,656.0 million hours.
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