Sydney: Australia`s unemployment rate slipped to 6.1 percent in August after a surprise spike in the previous month, but it remains at an 11-year high, data showed on Thursday.
Some 121,000 jobs were added to the economy last month, the stronger-than-expected Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed, with most of the gains in part-time positions.
Economists had expected the jobless rate to ease after soaring to a 12-year high of 6.4 percent in July, forecasting a reading of 6.3 percent with 4,000 new positions created.
The numbers were welcomed by investors, with the Australian dollar jumping half a cent to 92.05 US cents.
"The spike in unemployment that we had last month has been reversed," Barclays chief economist for Australia Kieran Davies said.
"That is more consistent with what most of the forward indicators have been pointing to -- that a slow improvement in the labour market is under way."
The participation rate, which measures the proportion of adults in work or looking, rose 0.4 percentage points to 65.2 percent.
Full-time jobs increased 14,300, while part-time roles rose 106,700 in August.
Analysts questioned the huge rise in the number of positions added and noted that it was the largest monthly increase since 1978.
"The magnitude of the employment increase also makes today`s figures somewhat difficult to interpret," ANZ economists Savita Singh and Riki Polygenis said in a statement.
"On unemployment at least, today`s figures appear broadly consistent with our view that the unemployment rate would stabilise into the end of the year and track down gradually from there," they added.
