Tens of thousands more Australians landed a job in March and Jobs Minister Kelly O'Dwyer says that's just another notch in the coalition's belt when it comes to employment figures.
But as the first week of the federal election campaign comes to a close, she argues such results could be under threat if Labor leader Bill Shorten proves victorious and brings in new taxes.
"It is good news, but that good news is all at risk. It is all at risk of Bill Shorten if elected to government," she told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.
Labor argues there are too many people looking for a job or eager to be working more hours.
Australia's unemployment rate edged up by 0.1 percentage points to five per cent in March, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.
The rise came after the rate fell below five per cent in February for the first time since 2011.
Full-time unemployment was responsible for the boost, with 48,300 new full-time jobs created while 22,600 part-time positions were shed, bringing the total increase of jobs to 25,700.
Ms O'Dwyer says that brings the total number of new jobs in the past year to 304,000, 95 per cent of which have been full-time.
But there were an extra 17,100 people who were unemployed in March.
The underemployment rate - which reflects the number of people who would like to work more hours - crept up by 0.1 points to 8.1 per cent.
The underutilisation rate - the proportion of the working population either unemployed or underemployed - also went up by 0.2 points to 13.2 per cent.
Labor jobs spokesman Brendan O'Connor says this is very significant.
"That's over one million Australians looking for more work, and nearly 700,000 looking for any work," he told reporters in Melbourne.
The Morrison government has pledged to deliver an extra 1.25 million jobs over the next five years if it claims victory at the May 18 election.
But the jobless rate is expected to stubbornly remain at five per cent for the foreseeable future, according to the latest federal budget.
CommSec chief economist Craig James agrees Australians should get used to the figure.
"There isn't sufficient positive or negative economic momentum to drive the jobless rate away from 5 per cent," he said on Thursday.
Australian Associated Press
