SYDNEY - AUSTRALIA'S unemployment rate held steady at 4.3 per cent in October, surprising economists who had predicted greater job losses as the global financial crisis brakes the country's economy.
A startling 34,300 new jobs were created last month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed just a day after Treasurer Wayne Swan warned the jobless rate would soar to 5.0 per cent by next June and to 5.75 per cent by June 2010.
Full-time employment fell by 9,200 during October, but the figure was lower than the decline of 10,000 predicted by economists, who had expected the jobless rate to rise to 4.4 per cent.
Part-time job creation jumped by 43,500, a steep rise from the 17,700 part-time posts created a month earlier, the ABS said.
Analysts said the figures suggested the job market was far more resilient than expected as turmoil batters financial markets across the globe, slowing the world economy and pushing many nations towards recession.
The Australian government last month unveiled a AUD$10.4 billion (S$10.45 billion) stimulus package in a bid to boost economic activity and ward off a contraction.
Mr Clifford Bennett, chief economist at Sonray Capital Market, told newswires agencies that the numbers may show the stimulus efforts are paying off.
'While one swallow does not make a summer, this data suggests job losses have at least slowed, as perhaps the government's stimulus package and... rate cuts are seen by businesses as good reason to maintain current employment levels,' Mr Bennett said.
But several other experts warned that the job market resilience may be short lived as job losses always lag behind economic slowing.
Mr Swan said on Wednesday that gross domestic product growth for the financial year to June 2009 had been cut to 2.0 per cent from 2.75 per cent and warned it could fall more if conditions deteriorates further. -- AFP
