Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was estimated at 5.5 per cent in May, as announced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

The ABS reported the number of people employed increased by 1,100 to 11,663,300 in May. The increase in employment was due to increased part-time employment, up 6,400 people to 3,509,600, offset by decreased full-time employment, down 5,300 to 8,153,600. The increase in total employment was mainly driven by an increase in male part-time employment.

The number of people unemployed decreased by 3,600 people to 682,900 in May, the ABS reported.

The ABS monthly seasonally adjusted aggregate hours worked series showed a decrease in May, down 11.5 million hours to 1,628.5 million hours.

The ABS reported a seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate decrease of 0.1 percentage points to 65.2 per cent in May. 

The seasonally adjusted underemployment rate was 7.4 per cent in May 2013. Combined with the unemployment rate of 5.5 per cent, the latest seasonally adjusted estimate of total labour force underutilisation was 12.9 per cent in May.