Australia's unemployment rate held steady in June, in line with market expectations, amid a jump in part-time employment and a higher participation rate.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 4.4% in June, unchanged from the previous month, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday.
The result is in line with an estimate from Westpac, as well as with a consensus forecast compiled by Trading Economics.
The number of employed people increased by 76,300 from the previous month to about 14.8 million, driven by a 47,000-person increase in part-time employment, while the volume of unemployed people rose by 12,700 to 686,800. As a result, the participation rate ticked higher to 67% from 66.7% in May.
Part of the employment growth came from Australians who were waiting to start a job in May, representing "a stronger June movement than has been observed in recent years," said Sean Crick, head of labor statistics at the ABS.
He added that people in the 55 to 64 age bracket recorded the largest annual growth in the participation rate, up nearly a full percentage point to 70.6%.
The data also showed a 5 million increase in the overall number of monthly hours worked to about 2.01 billion hours in June, while the employment-to-population ratio edged 30 basis points higher to 64%.
Earlier in July, Reserve Bank of Australia Assistant Governor Sarah Hunter said the country may need a period of higher unemployment to ease inflation expectations. The central bank left its official cash rate unchanged at 4.35% in June, and its next policy meeting is scheduled for August.
