Mining states buck trend but jobless rates set to grow

Australia's jobs market is as flat as a tack and unemployment is set to rise

The Minister for Empsurface mine planning and designloyment, Bill Shorten, predicted ''further softness'' after news yesterday that on a trend basis, the nation has been putting into work just 1000 more people each month. The trend has fallen below population growth, meaning Australia's potential teenage and adult labour force is climbing 18,500 per month while the number in work climbs by just 1000. In February, the unemployment rate rose from 5.1 to 5.2 per cent. Treasury predicts it will reach 5.5 per cent by June. Mr Shorten said Australia still compared well to the rest of the world. ''Whilst Japan has slightly lower unemployment, the Germans, the Americans, the English, in fact the whole euro region, has unemployment much higher than Australia,'' he said. ''So we are relatively well placed but we still expect further softness in the...