MW: Australia Oct jobless rises to above-forecast 5.4%
By Sarah Turner
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) -- Australia's unemployment rate rose to 5.4% in October, from 5.1% in the previous month, government data released Thursday showed. Economists had expected an employment rate of 5.1% and a 20,000 rise in the number of employed persons, according to a survey of economists reported by Dow Jones Newswires. The number of employed persons rose 29,700 in October, with full time employment down 14,100 to 7.97 million and part-time employed up 43,800 to 3.39 million, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported. The participation rate increased 0.3 percentage points to a record high of 65.9%, the ABS noted. The Australian dollar traded down 0.4% at 99.97 U.S. cents after the data.
