Bad news for Australian workers will be greeted with a sigh of relief by the Reserve Bank as the labour market shows signs of softening.
The unemployment rate jumped to 4.5 per cent and 18,600 jobs dropped out of the economy in April, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Thursday.
Economists had expected the unemployment rate to hold at 4.3 per cent, with employment growth of 15,000 jobs in April.
The number of unemployed people rose by 33,000, the bureau's head of labour statistics Sean Crick said.
"Compared to what we usually see in April, more people remained unemployed this month," he said.
"Despite the fall in employment this month, hours worked rose by 15.8 million hours. This meant that hours worked per person rose by 0.9 per cent."
