Australian unemployment surged in May and another swathe of jobs were lost as ongoing restrictions to stem the spread of the coronavirus kept large parts of the economy shuttered. The jobless rate advanced to 7.1% from a revised 6.4% in April vs economists’ median estimate of 6.9%, data from the statistics bureau showed in Sydney Thursday. Employment plunged by 227,700 in May after falling an upwardly revised 607,400 in April. The participation rate fell to 62.9%. Economists had penciled in 63.6%. The Australian dollar slumped on the data and was trading at 68.42 U.S. cents at 11:41 a.m. in Sydney. The result comes ... (full story)