Australian unemployment fell by 0.2 percentage points in April to 4.5%, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) at the start of Asian trading on Thursday, May 21. This compares to 4.3% in April, while market expectations had anticipated it would remain stable at 4.3%. The labor force participation rate also rose to 66.8% from 66.7%.

The Australian economy lost approximately 18,600 jobs in April, bringing the total number of jobs to 14,737,400. This figure reflects an increase of nearly 23,000 jobs in April, revised upwards from expectations of around 16,000 new jobs.