Full-time jobs are declining in Australia as the economy switches from mining to services with an accompanying rise in part-time employment.
The number of people with jobs rose 17,900 in May, all of them part-time, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
Full-time employment growth was flat in the month after falling 27,300 over the previous two months.
In other words no new full-time jobs have been created in Australia since February.
The rise in part-time work in May managed to hold the unemployment rate flat at 5.7 per cent.
Commonwealth Bank senior economist Michael Workman said the numbers reflected the transition of the economy from mining to services.
"The new jobs are mainly in the services sectors like health, retail, tourism and education," Mr Workman said.
"About 60 per cent of them are part-time or casual.
"They replace the full-time jobs shed from manufacturing and mining."
Westpac senior economist Justin Smirk noted that in the year to May part-time employment grew by 4.4 per cent, or 160,000 jobs.
He said in comparison full-time employment grew by a mere 1.0 per cent, or 83,800 jobs, over the same period.
"Given that full-time employment represents 69 per cent of total employment this really highlights the significant structural shift the Australian economy is experiencing," Mr Smirk said.
Meanwhile, the participation rate, which refers to the number of people either employed or actively looking for work, was steady in May at 64.8 per cent.
HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham said the current rate of jobs growth was sufficient to keep the unemployment rate steady, but not strong enough to push it lower.
The Reserve Bank's key rate trigger in recent months has been low inflation and Mr Bloxham tipped it to remain depressed on the back the May employment figures.
"With the unemployment rate still above its full employment level, wage growth was likely to remain weak, keeping domestic inflationary pressures subdued," Mr Bloxham said.
"We expect the RBA to cut its cash rate by a further 25 basis points in August to 1.50 per cent and then to hold steady in subsequent quarters."
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