Australia's jobless rate steady at 5.2% in Dec

SYDNEY (MarketWatch)
Australia's unemployment rate held steady at 5.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis in December, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed Thursday
The number of employed fell 29,300 to 11.4 million, driven by a drop in part-time employed
The number of unemployed fell 3,800 to 629,900
Economists had been expecting the jobless rate to rise to 5.3% in December, from November's 5.2% reading, and the number of employed to rise by 6,000, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey