Unemployment increases to 5.2% in June

Unemployment increased to 5.2% in June, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Since May, the total number of jobs fell by 27,000 or 0.2% to 11,500,500. The unemployment rate lifted just 0.1 percentage point to 5.2%.

Economists had largely expected the increase.

According to the figures, the rise was due to a decrease in full-time employment, down 33,500 to 8,065,500.

After the figures were released, the Australian dollar dropped to $US1.02.

This article first appeared at SmartCompany.