WESTERN Australia's unemployment rate has risen to a seasonally adjusted 4.9 per cent in May from an upwardly revised 4.6 per cent recorded the month before, new figures show.
The Australia Bureau of Statistics showed the state's unemployment rate had reached March 2009 levels, when the jobless rate hit 5 per cent.
In comparison, WA's unemployment rate in May last year was 3.4 per cent.
The participation rate for May had increased from the previous month's 69 per cent to 69.5 per cent, seasonally adjusted.
The number of unemployed persons in WA rose from 56,200 to 60,600, while the number of employed people rose from 1.166 million to 1.173 million. Nationally, the unemployment rate was a seasonally adjusted 5.7 per cent in May, compared with an upwardly revised 5.5 per cent in April
