Australia posted a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 6.0 percent in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
That missed forecasts for 5.9 percent - which would have been unchanged from the December reading after it was revised up from 5.8 percent.
The Australian economy lost 3,700 jobs to 11,459,500 in January versus expectations for an increase of 15,000 following the loss of 22,600 jobs in the previous month.
Full-time employment decreased 7,100 to 7,953,000 and part-time employment increased 3,400 to 3,506,500.
Unemployment increased 16,600 (2.3 percent) to 728,600. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work increased 20,700 to 547,200 and the number of unemployed persons looking for part-time work decreased 4,100 to 181,400.
The participation rate was 64.5 percent, also missing expectations for 64.6 percent but unchanged from December after it was revised down from 64.6 percent.
The number of people unemployed increased by 16,600 people to 728,600 in January.
Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 20.5 million hours to 1,635.8 million hours.
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