15.02.201801:25:00UTC+00Australia Unemployment Slightly Lower in January

Australia's headline jobless rate slipped in January as female participation in the country's labour force notched a record peak.

The country's unemployment rate for January stood at 5.5 percent, which is lower from the revised 5.6 percent December figure, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Part-time jobs made up the bulk of the new roles for January with 65,900 positions added, up from 19,500 in the previous month (revised from 20,700). The number of full-time or higher-quality jobs fell 49,800 from an increase of 12,700 (revised from 15,100) in December.

The report implies that the labor market has taken a slight breather after 2017's employment bonanza in which the economy added 400,000 jobs, three-quarters of them full-time.

According to Paul Dales, chief Australia & New Zealand Economist at Capital Economic, it was “a bit of a concern” that the increase was in large part from part-time roles.

The participation rate for January was at 65.6 percent with the female labour force participation rate reaching record high of 60.5 percent.

Australia has added 292,000 full-time jobs since the start of 2017, with women accounting for 55 per cent of the full-time employment growth over the past year, ABS said.

Wage growth has remained weak and inflation tepid. That's prompted the central bank to signal rates will remain at a record-low 1.5 percent until the unemployment rate is closer to its 5 percent full-employment estimate.

The Australian dollar fell slightly after the data was released to $0.7917.