WA jobless rate higher than Barnett likes

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says the state's unemployment rate is higher than he'd like at 6.0 per cent.

WA's jobless rate rose from 5.9 per cent to 6.0 per cent in February, compared to the national rate of 5.8 per cent.

Mr Barnett said a lot of people in WA were worried about their job security, but the economy was showing more resilience than he expected.

"Those figures show the unemployment rate is basically stable and I think we've bottomed out in terms of this cycle," Mr Barnett told ABC radio.

"You've seen commodity prices a little bit stronger in the last month or so. Still some job losses, but not as great as they were."

He said other parts of the West Australian economy such as agriculture, tourism and hospitality were doing well.

Mr Barnett also predicted iron ore prices would trade between $US50 and $US70 a tonne over the longer term.

Prices were still fragile despite the price of the steel-making commodity increasing 69 cents to $US53.57 per tonne overnight, he said.

"I do think they will gradually return to the long-term trend, which would probably be somewhere in the range of $US50 and $US70 but we're not there yet."