Australia's unemployment rate steadied at 5.2% in March as thousands of full-time and part-time jobs were created.
Bureau of Statistics figures show a total of 44,000 jobs were created, of which 15,800 were full-time and 28,200 were part-time.
The ABC reports this took the total number of people employed to 11.5 million on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The ABC says the result was surprisingly strong - economists had predicted the jobless rate would rise to 5.3%.
Around the country: the unemployment rate fell sharply from 5.1% to 4.8% in New South Wales and dropped to 5.5% in Queensland.
The trend unemployment rate in the Northern Territory fell to 4% and in to 3.6% the ACT.
But the jobless rate rose to 7.2% in Tasmania in trend terms, 5.8% in Victoria and 4% in Western Australia. South Australia's rate was unchanged at 5.2%.
