The trend unemployment rate in Australia was 5.8 per cent in February 2017, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today with WA down to a rate of 6.0% from 6.4% in January. Western Australia is no longer on the bottom of the unemployment scale with it currently sitting above Victoria (6.1%), South Australia (6.6%) and Queensland (6.7%). The national unemployment rate remains steady at 5.8% as the increase in employment of 11,600 outweighed the increase in unemployment of 5,200, the participation rate remaining steady also at 64.6%. The unemployment rate for the past 12 months now has remained steady.
