Treasurer Joe Hockey believes unemployment would have been even worse without the Abbott government's policies.
This week's labour force figures show unemployment rose to 6.4 per cent, the highest in more than 12 years.
The result was worse than many predicted.
But Mr Hockey believes it could have been worse still.
"Whatever was happening previously wasn't working because when we came into government, 200 jobs a day were being created in Australia," he told ABC radio on Friday.
Now there were 600 new jobs a day on offer.
"If we had stayed at 200 jobs, unemployment would be 7.5 per cent today, not 6.4 (per cent)," he said.
The treasurer insisted the best possible thing for employment was to get the economy growing faster.
"I'm trying to get it to shift and things that have been unpopular but necessary have helped," he said.
Treasury predicted before the 2013 election that predicted unemployment would peak at 6.25 per cent in mid-2014 then stabilise before dropping to 5 per cent in 2015/16.
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