Australian unemployment in surprise jump

Australia's unemployment rate unexpectedly rose in July to 5.1 percent, data showed Thursday, hitting its highest level since November last year as the economy shed 22,000 full-time jobs. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said the jobless rate increased 0.1 percentage points from a revised 5.0 percent in June, worse than the 4.9 percent expected by the market. There was a net loss of 100 jobs, with part-time work created falling short of the 22,200 full-time positions lost, the ABS said. "The number of people unemployed increased by 18,000 people to 611,600 in July," the ABS said. The Australian dollar slumped to US$1.0139 immediately after the data, from $1.0211 shortly before. Canberra has forecast unemployment to fall to 4.5 percent by mid-2013.