Economists were a little surprised yesterday with total employment growing by 24,500 as they had expected a drop of 10,000. All but 2,900 of the jobs however were part-time. The unemployment rate rose to 5.8% due to the participation rate (numbers looking for work) increasing.
The all important Monthly Hours Worked however fell by 1.9 million hours to 1.52 billion according to the ABS.
NSW fared worst out of all the states with it's unemployment rate rising to 6.1% from 5.5%
The government recently lowered it's expectations for the peak unemployment rate from 8.25% to 6.75%
These results should ensure the RBA lifts rates another 25 points in December.
