Australia says jobs growth slowing

SYDNEY: Australian employment growth is losing steam, data published Thursday show, with a lower-than-expected boost in job creation sending the local dollar sliding.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said seasonally-adjusted unemployment held at 4.9 percent for a third straight month in May, with 7,800 extra jobs made and a total of 11,440,500 people in employment.

Analysts had expected an extra 25,000 jobs to be created.

The figures weighed on the Australian dollar, which fell sharply from US$1.0660 to $1.0585.

Australia's central bank this week warned that employment growth had cooled and was likely to hold at a slower pace, and kept the official interest rate at 4.75 percent for the sixth time since November, the last time it was lifted.

St George Bank economist Janu Chan said Thursday's data was surprisingly weak, with a 22,000 dip in full-time jobs, while part-time employment rose 29,800.

"I think that there is some indication that jobs growth is weakening, in particular there was that drop in full-time jobs," Chan said.

Chan added that costly flooding and cyclones in the early months of 2011 could be muddying the picture, and that she still expected a rate hike in August.

Canberra has forecast unemployment to fall to 4.5 percent by mid-2013 as resources projects worth hundreds of billions of dollars ramp up in response to insatiable Asian demand for energy and raw materials.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011