SINGAPORE - Australia's jobless rate is expected to worsen, the country's Treasurer Wayne Swan said Thursday, despite a rebounding economy that is the fastest-growing in the developed world.

Swan said the government needed to maintain a stimulus package worth 70 billion Australian dollars (S$90.46 billion), which is credited with helping the economy avert a recession.

Australia posted 0.6 percent growth in the June quarter, the best in the developed world, and it has forecast an expansion of 1.5 percent in the current financial year.

"I think the increased unemployment of Australia today shows what a substantial challenge we still have on the employment front," Swan said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum.

"That's why the government is so determined, that's why the government is so determined to maintain our economic stimulus as we go forward," he said ahead of talks with his counterparts from 21 Pacific Rim nations.

Data released Thursday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the country's unemployment rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 5.8 percent in October from 5.7 percent in September.

"We need that (stimulus) as our unemployment figures out today show," Swan said.

"There are many others who are working reduced hours and in our recent mid-year budget review, we made it very clear that our forecasts will show a further increase of unemployment of some 100,000 people," he said.

However, economist are more optimistic about the October results which saw the creation of a further 24,500 jobs in what they said was a strong signal to the Reserve Bank of Australia to continue raising interest rates.

The additional jobs build on the 40,600 positions created in September and indicate that the economy is close to seeing a peak in unemployment, economists said. Unemployment has been little changed since May.