Australia's unemployment rate is expected to peak at 9.25 per cent, lower than initially expected at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the federal government's stimulus measures saved 700,000 jobs with the unemployment peak five percentage points lower than first feared.
"Between March and May, 870,000 jobs were lost and more than one million Australians saw their working hours reduced," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.
"These are mums and dads, sons and daughters, friends and colleagues."
The official jobless figure was 7.4 per cent in June with the 9.25 per cent peak expected to be reached in this year's December quarter.
The average unemployment rate is forecast to be 8.75 per cent in 2020/21.
Australian Associated Press
