Jobless rate down but more on dole

The Government has been hit with a mixed bag of unemployment data as the headline jobless rate fell but the number of dole claimants rose.

The jobless total dropped 51,000 to 2.61 million in the quarter to April, while the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance in May rose by 8,100 to 1.6 million, ending two months of declines.