CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Australia's jobless rate fell to 5.2 percent in May as full-time employment increased for the ninth straight month, evidence of a rapid rebound from the global downturn that could pressure the central bank to keep raising interest rates.

The number of people in jobs rose by almost 30,000 in May, with more than 11 million Australians in the work force, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

The increase was led by growth in full-time jobs. Part-time jobs decreased by more than 9,000.

The jobless rate had held steady at 5.4 percent in March and April after edging up from 5.3 percent in February.

Australia's central bank left its key interest rate unchanged at 4.5 percent earlier this month following a series of rate hikes. It cited increased caution among investors in the wake of Europe's sovereign debt crisis but strong jobs growth may renew pressure for it to raise interest rates again later in the year to keep inflation in check.

Treasurer Wayne Swan welcomed the increase in employment.

"This is a very encouraging figure for Australia," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

It underscored the government's need to continue stimulus spending on building infrastructure, to reduce company tax and to encourage retirement savings, Swan said.

These policies will be key issues as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's government seeks a second three-year term in power at elections due late this year.

Australia has weathered the global downturn better than predicted, recording only three months of economic contraction at the end of 2008.

In May last year, Treasury predicted that unemployment would peak at 8.5 percent in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2010. But it peaked in October last year at 5.75 percent.

Last month, Treasury predicted the jobless rate would fall to five percent in the second quarter of calendar 2011 and to 4.75 percent a year later.