Australian unemployment increases to 6%

Australia's unemployment rate rose to 6.0 per cent in January, which missed market expectations.

The total number of people with jobs fell by 7900 in the month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday, which was worse than expectations of a rise of 15,000.

Full-time employment fell 40,600, while the number of part-time jobs was up by 32,700.

The participation rate, which refers to the number of people either employed or actively looking for work, was steady at 65.2 per cent.