Feds have no jobs plan: Labor

The hike in Australia's jobless rate shows the federal government is failing to deliver on a jobs plan for hundreds of thousands of Australians, opposition employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor says.

Australia's unemployment rate rose to 5.8 per cent in December, official figures show, up from 5.7 per cent.

"You're looking at 1.8 million Australians looking for more work or some work and not being able to find it," Mr O'Connor told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.

"We are seeing dysfunction, division and failure by the Turnbull government to focus on the biggest challenge it has, the biggest obligation it has, and that is to provide opportunities for Australians to find work."