SYDNEY, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Australian jobs surged past all expectations in October, though the unemployment rate still ticked up to 7.0% as more people went out looking for work.
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday showed employment escalated by a solid 178,800 in October, after slipping in September.
Economists polled by Reuters were predicting a fall of 30,000 with the unemployment rate rising to 7.2%.
"This strong increase means that employment in October was only 1.7% below March, and reflects a large flow of people from outside the labour force back into employment," Bjorn Jarvis, head of Labour Statistics at the ABS, said.