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CANBERRA — Australia's jobless rate remained steady at 5.8 percent for a third month in August despite a continuing shift from full-time to part-time employment due to the near-stagnant economy, figures showed Thursday.
The jobless rate was better than most economists had expected but Employment Minister Julia Gillard said the data contained "some troubling aspects" including a shift to part-time work and an overall loss of jobs that was matched by a fall in the number of people seeking work.
"When we consider ... these figures, they point to a need to continue to support economic activity through economic stimulus," Gillard told reporters, referring to government plans to spend billions of dollars on infrastructure projects.
Craig James, chief economist for financial management firm CommSec, said that with the number of job advertisements beginning to increase, Australia's unemployment rate would likely peak far below the government's prediction of 8.5 percent in mid 2010.
"We're getting some early indications that the jobless rate may be peaking around about 6 percent, and that's a whole lot lower than what a lot of economists thought," James told Sky Television.
Despite the overall unemployment rate remaining steady, full-time jobs slipped by 30,800 while part-time jobs increased by 3,800. Total hours worked during the month fell by 1.5 billion.
A fall of 27,100 jobs to less than 11 million was canceled out by a 0.3 percentage point shrinkage of the labor market as many job seekers abandoned their search, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday cited falls in retail spending and housing finance in July to warn that Australia's economy was not yet clear of the global economic downturn.
Australia has so far avoided a recession, recording only one quarter of economic contraction in the three months through December since the global downturn struck.
Opposition lawmakers argue that better-than-expected economic growth is evidence that the government is unnecessarily overspending on boosting the economy.
