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Creation Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2010 GMT

Jobless rate falls to 5.3% in January

The unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to 5.3 per cent in January, raising the risk of a further official interest rate rise in March, new data suggests.

The fall from a rate of 5.5 per cent in December came as a larger-than-expected 52,700 jobs were created in January, seasonally adjusted figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed.

There were 15,900 full-time jobs created in January.

Economists' median forecast was for total employment to have risen by 15,000 in January and the unemployment rate to rise to 5.6 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of Australia left the official cash rate unchanged at 3.75 per cent last week, when most economists had anticipated a further rise.

But the central bank did warn that further rate rises were likely in the coming months.

The biggest drop in unemployment in January was in South Australia, which tumbled to 4.4 per cent from 5.2 per cent the previous month.

In Queensland, the jobless rate declined to 5.5 per cent from 5.9 per cent, while in NSW it fell to 5.6 per cent from 5.9 per cent and in Western Australia it eased to 5.0 per cent from 5.1 per cent.

In the Northern Territory the rate also eased to 3.3 per cent from 3.4 per cent.

Unemployment rates in Victoria and Tasmania were both unchanged at 5.3 per cent and 5.2 per cent respectively.

In the ACT the rate rose to 3.8 per cent from 3.7 per cent.