Vic: State's unemployment rate increases to 6.5 per cent

00-00-0000
Vic: State's unemployment rate increases to 6.5 per cent

MELBOURNE, Jan 17 AAP - The Victorian government's election target of achieving a fiveper cent unemployment rate was in tatters, the state opposition said today.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released today showed that Victoria's unemploymentrate rose from 6.3 per cent in November to 6.5 per cent in December 2001.

The state's unemployment level one year ago was 5.9 per cent.

"Labor promised a five per cent unemployment rate at the last election (September 1999),"

Opposition industry spokeswoman Louise Asher told reporters.

"This increase in …