Australia’s unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage point in May to 4.4%, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) at the start of Asian trading on Thursday, June 25. This compares to 4.5% in April and matches market expectations. The labor force participation rate also rose to 66.7% from 66.6%.

The Australian economy added 40,300 jobs in May, bringing the total number of employed individuals to 14,698,500. This follows a loss of nearly 40,000 jobs in April, which was revised downwards. Expectations had been for the creation of approximately 31,000 jobs.