（June 10,2010）

THE jobless rate fell in May, which indicates an economy picking up speed, economists say.

The unemployment rate was a seasonally adjusted 5.2 per cent in May, compared with an unrevised 5.4 per cent in April, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.

Total employment rose by 26,900 to 11.057 million in May, seasonally adjusted.

Full-time employment rose by 36,400 to 7.78 million in the month and part-time employment was down by 9400 to 3.277 million.

The participation rate in May was 65.1 per cent, down from the unrevised 65.2 per cent in April.

The forecast was for total employment to have risen by 15,000 in May, an unemployment rate of 5.4 per cent and a participation rate of 65.2 per cent, the median of 11 economists surveyed by AAP showed.

Citigroup managing director of economics research, Paul Brennan, said the jobs data in May was "very impressive''.

"You cannot see anything that detracts from the result,'' Mr Brennan said.

"The unemployment rate is down for both those looking for full-time and overall.''

Mr Brennan said the jobless rate crept up from 5.2 per cent in January to 5.4 per cent in April as the economy slowed in the first quarter.

Gross domestic product (GDP) was 0.5 per cent in the March quarter, compared to 1.1 per cent the quarter before, ABS data showed last week.

"But these figures say maybe that slowdown exaggerated the underlying trend in the economy and that it was doing better than implied by that weaker GDP growth for the March quarter,'' he said.

"It just reinforces the view that (Reserve Bank of Australia Governor) Glenn Stevens spoke yesterday that the economy is in a pretty good shape despite what the risks from offshore in Europe.''

The rise in hours worked rose 2.9 per cent in May, the highest monthly increase since May 1988.

AMP Capital Investors chief economist Shane Oliver described the unemployment rate as a "strong number''.

"It's a pretty good outcome given the run of economic data lately which has tended to be on the poor side,'' Mr Oliver said.

He noted the unemployment rate was now back down to the low it reached in January this year.

"It's quite a lot stronger than generally expected and it's also good to see that full time employment growth has continued.''

He said the rise in full time jobs as part time positions fell could be attributed to people moving from part-time to full time work now that economic conditions have improved.

"It's mainly this ongoing switching of people from part time work,'' he said.

(Source from: news.com.au)