SYDNEY: Australia's unemployment rate remained steady at 5.8 percent in April, data showed Thursday, with the addition of more than 14,000 full-time positions.
Economists had been expecting a small rise to the rate after it unexpectedly fell below 6.0 percent in March, but the Australian Bureau of Statistics said there was no change.
The figures show that the number of people employed rose by 14,200 to 11.573 million over the month with all of the increase in full-time positions. Part-time jobs were unchanged.
The participation rate -- which measures the proportion of adults in work or looking for it -- eased slightly from 64.8 to 64.7 percent.
The Australian dollar jumped to 93.50 US cents after the data was released, up from 93.29 US cents shortly beforehand.
Australia is undergoing a bumpy economic transition with its decade-long Asia-led mining investment boom reaching its peak and the ailing manufacturing sector in dire straits.
This has seen the jobless rate steadily rise over the past year until the dip in March, suggesting a peak may have been reached.
Despite this, central bank governor Glenn Stevens on Tuesday warned "it will probably be some time yet before unemployment declines consistently" as the bank held interest rates at 2.5 percent.
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