By Robert Carry

Australia’s unemployment rate may have already peaked, securities firm CommSec has claimed.

More than 40,000 jobs were created during September and the unemployment rate fell from 5.8% to 5.7%. CommSec has predicted that unemployment figures set to be released next week will show a continued improvement.

“We believe that the jobless rate is close to peaking, if it hasn’t already… Further gains in employment look to be in the pipeline in coming months,” said CommSec’s chief economist Craig James.

James said CommSec expects that the figures will show employment lifting by 10,000 in October. “If the participation rate didn’t change then the jobless rate may have edged up from 5.7% to 5.9%,” he said. “But overall a peak in the jobless rate somewhere around 6 per cent appears likely.”

Collections: