Australia Jobless Rate Rises

(RTTNews) - Australia's unemployment rate rose slightly in July and employment decreased unexpectedly, official data revealed Thursday.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.5 percent in July from 4.4 percent in June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported. The rate was expected to remain unchanged at 4.4 percent.

Data showed that employment decreased by 15,800 in July from the previous month, in contrast to economists' forecast of an increase of 11,700. Unemployment increased by 4,200.

At the same time, the youth unemployment dropped 0.3 percentage point to 10.4 percent.

The labor participation rate fell 0.2 percentage point to 66.9 percent in July, in line with forecast.

"There were 12 million less hours worked this month, with those employed full-time working 7 million less hours, and those employed part-time working 5 million less hours," said ABS head of labour statistics Sean Crick.