The official jobless rate remained at 5.8 per cent in July, unchanged from June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today, suggesting the economy is stronger than originally expected. Analysts expected the jobless rate to hit 6 per cent in July.

''If people are unhappy they are staying with the devil they know, rather than the one they don't,'' said recruitment agency Saunders Lynn & Co's managing director Kerri O'Connor.

She said the thinking ''seems to be 'I have a job and I know what is coming - even if I don't love it at the moment - rather than doing something new where there is more uncertainty.'''

The July data showed a loss of 16,000 full time jobs in July, while part-time jumped to 48,200.

The dollar jumped on the news to 84.51 US cents from 84.20.

The unemployment rate has come under the spotlight after investors began betting in recent weeks that the Reserve Bank will begin raising rates.

Original projections for the severity of the economic decline have been reassessed based on better-than-expected jobs data in past months, rising consumer confidence and a stockmarket rally.