The unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 6.1 percent in December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
That beat expectations for 6.3 percent, and it was down from the revised 6.2 percent in November.
The Australian economy added 37,400 jobs to 11,679,400 in December - well above forecasts for 5,000 following the gain of 42,700 jobs in the previous month.
The increase in employment was driven by increased full-time employment for both females (up 23,300) and males (up 18,200). The increase in full-time employment was marginally offset by a fall in part-time employment, down 4,100.
The participation rate was 64.8 percent, topping expectations for 64.7 percent - which would have been unchanged.
The aggregate monthly hours worked fell in December, down 7.7 million hours (0.5%) to 1,597.8 million hours.
The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed decreased by 16,200 to 759,200 in December.
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