WA jobless rate climbs above 5pc
Unemployment across WA has climbed above 5 per cent as workers increasingly find it difficult to find a job.
BARNETT WARNS OF MORE PAIN TO COME | 1300 JOBS LOST AT FORGE |RECEIVERS STRIP DOWN FORGE
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the State unemployment rate hit 5.1 per cent in January, its highest level since April.
It was driven by a big fall in part time employment as the number of people with a full time job actually increased by 5400.
Over the past three months the State's unemployment rate has lifted by almost a full percentage point
Nationally, the unemployment rate hit 6 per cent last month.
It was driven by a 7100 fall in the number of people with full time work. Part time employment actually improved by 3400.
The number of people out of work lifted by 16,600 to more than 728,000.
At 6 per cent, the jobless rate is now at its highest level since mid-2003.
Across the country, unemployment was steady at 7.6 per cent in Tasmania and in NSW (at 5.8 per cent)
It went up in Queensland, to 6.1 per cent, and Victoria (to 6.4 per cent).
It fell in the Northern Territory (to 4 per cent), South Australia (to 6.6 per cent) and the ACT (to 3.8 per cent)
