AFP, Sydney :
Australia posted its lowest jobless rate in 48 years Thursday, a potential pre-election boost to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is fighting to stay in power.
The unemployment rate dipped to 3.85 percent in April, the official statistics body said, delivering a dose of good news two days before federal elections.
It was the lowest unemployment level since 1974 — when flared trousers were in fashion and US president Richard Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal.
“More Australians are in work now than ever before,” said the ruling conservative Liberal-National Party coalition’s employment minister, Stuart Robert.
“Even in the face of global shocks like the war in Europe, Australia’s economy has remained resilient,” he boasted. “Now is not the time to risk our economy on an opposition that has no plan and makes things up on the run.”
Opinion polls show the ruling conservative coalition lagging a little behind the opposition Labor Party in a tightening election race.
