Australia's unemployment figures are preparing to surpass one million citizens by 2011, in a forecast described by the government as worse than "any in living memory".

The Australian Treasury has predicted that the continuing global financial crisis will increase the national unemployment rate to 8.5 per cent of the workforce by the second quarter of 2011, which is three per cent higher than its current level.

However, the ruling Labor Party of the commonwealth country suggested that without its AU$42 billion stimulus, the unemployment figure would already have exceeded ten per cent.

Suggesting that its handling of the economic downturn had been beneficial to employment, the Treasury outlined the extent of the problems it had and will face in its annual budget.

It read: "The effects of the global financial crisis have surged through all advanced economies, destroying wealth, sapping confidence, and leading to a collapse in global trade."

This pessimistic view comes just one week after it was revealed that Australian employment increased by nearly 50,000 full-time jobs in April.© Adfero Ltd