SYDNEY: Australia's unemployment rate was steady at 6.0 percent, its highest level in a decade, for the second straight month in February despite a better-than-expected rise in full-time positions, data showed Thursday.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points, but the rounded estimate remained at 6.0 percent.
The figures show that the number of people employed rose by 47,300 to 11,530,800 over the month, but strong growth in full-time positions was offset by falls in part-time workers.
"Full-time employment increased 80,500 to 8,049,900 and part-time employment decreased 33,300 to 3,480,900," the bureau said.
The statistics follow announcements of thousands of job losses in Australia's automobile and aviation sectors, many of which have yet to filter through, and as a decade-long boom in mining slows.
The Australian dollar rose on the data, climbing to 90.56 US cents from 89.53 US cents late Wednesday.
Australia's jobless rate rose from 5.8 to reach 6.0 percent in January, reaching its highest point since the global financial crisis, when it peaked at 5.8 percent, and its worst level since July 2003.
Conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that while he was "deeply dissatisfied" with the latest figures, they were better than the previous Labor government's predictions and confirmed to him the need press ahead with plans to cut taxes and regulation.
"I certainly take this as an important spur to further economic reform," he told reporters.
"Plainly unemployment at 6.0 percent is much higher than we would like it."
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