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Aussie jobless rate slips
Australia's jobless rate slipped marginally in April to 5.4 per cent, despite widespread predictions of a further rise in unemployment. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
SYDNEY - AUSTRALIA'S jobless rate slipped marginally in April to 5.4 per cent, despite widespread predictions of a further rise in unemployment because of the global economic slowdown.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Thursday showed that more than 27,000 new full- and part-time jobs were created in April, backing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's claim that his massive stimulus packages were protecting workers and the economy from recession.
Some analysts agreed, though even optimists warned the good news would likely be short-lived because the trend was still toward economic contraction and higher unemployment. Others doubted the data's accuracy.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.4 per cent in April compared with 5.7 per cent in March, the country's worst jobless rate in five years.
Economists had expected total job numbers to decline by 25,000 for an unemployment rate of 5.9 per cent. Mr Rudd has pumped more than AU$52 billion (S$57.5 billion) into the economy since October - much of it in the form of cash payments to most Australians - to stimulate the economy, which stalled in the last quarter of 2008. The central bank has also slashed interest rates to their lowest level in almost 50 years to stimulate demand.
The cost of the stimulus payments along with plummeting tax revenue due to the downturn are expected to produce a deficit - Australia's first in eight years - of up to AU$70 billion when the government hands down its latest budget next week. The government is forecasting unemployment will rise to 7 per cent by mid-2010.
The jobless data is the latest in a series of mixed news that some economists say could add up to a less harsh downturn for Australia than feared.
The statistics bureau reported Wednesday that retail sales rose 2.2 per cent in March - more than four times what economists expected - and that exports held up enough to widen Australia's trade surplus by the second-largest margin on record to AU$2.5 billion. -- AP
Aussie jobless rate slips
Australia's jobless rate slipped marginally in April to 5.4 per cent, despite widespread predictions of a further rise in unemployment. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
SYDNEY - AUSTRALIA'S jobless rate slipped marginally in April to 5.4 per cent, despite widespread predictions of a further rise in unemployment because of the global economic slowdown.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Thursday showed that more than 27,000 new full- and part-time jobs were created in April, backing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's claim that his massive stimulus packages were protecting workers and the economy from recession.
Some analysts agreed, though even optimists warned the good news would likely be short-lived because the trend was still toward economic contraction and higher unemployment. Others doubted the data's accuracy.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.4 per cent in April compared with 5.7 per cent in March, the country's worst jobless rate in five years.
Economists had expected total job numbers to decline by 25,000 for an unemployment rate of 5.9 per cent. Mr Rudd has pumped more than AU$52 billion (S$57.5 billion) into the economy since October - much of it in the form of cash payments to most Australians - to stimulate the economy, which stalled in the last quarter of 2008. The central bank has also slashed interest rates to their lowest level in almost 50 years to stimulate demand.
The cost of the stimulus payments along with plummeting tax revenue due to the downturn are expected to produce a deficit - Australia's first in eight years - of up to AU$70 billion when the government hands down its latest budget next week. The government is forecasting unemployment will rise to 7 per cent by mid-2010.
The jobless data is the latest in a series of mixed news that some economists say could add up to a less harsh downturn for Australia than feared.
The statistics bureau reported Wednesday that retail sales rose 2.2 per cent in March - more than four times what economists expected - and that exports held up enough to widen Australia's trade surplus by the second-largest margin on record to AU$2.5 billion. -- AP
