MAY UNEMPL RATE 7.1% V APR 6.2%;.....>

AUSTRALIA DATA: MAY UNEMPL RATE 7.1% V APR 6.2%; PARTIC RATE 62.9% % V APR 63.5%

AUSTRALIA MAY EMPLOYED PERSONS -227,700 VS APR -594,000

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--Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour stats at the Australian Bureau of Statistics ,

said: "The drop in employment, of close to a quarter of a million people, added

to the 600,000 in April, brings the total fall to 835,000 people since March."

--"In two months, the percentage of people aged 15 and over employed in

Australia decreased from around 62.5 per cent to around 58.7 per cent."

--As in April, the size of the increase in the unemployment rate in May was

reduced by larger than usual numbers of employed and unemployed people leaving

the labour force

--Monthly hours worked fell 0.7 per cent in May, to be down 10.2 per cent since

March (with the April fall revised up to 9.5 per cent).

--The underutilisation rate, which combines the unemployment and underemployment

rates, rose to a new record high of 20.2 per cent.