Official figures have revealed that for the month of November, Australia's rate of unemployment unexpectedly slipped to 5.7%, fueling speculations that the economy is now well on its way to recovery and the Reserve Bank will once again lift interest rates in the February meeting.

The actual figure has managed to beat the estimated rate of unemployment that was pegged by financial market analysts which stood firm at 5.9%.

The better-than-estimated unemployment rate for the month, which is down from October's figure of 5.8%, has been a result of the total employment rising by 31,200 during the year's second-last month. As many as 30,800 full time jobs were created.

"The economy may not yet be going gangbusters but Australia clearly has the strongest economy in the developed world. Over the last three months just over 95,000 jobs have been created. Job seekers have received an early Christmas present. It now appears that the unemployment rate has peaked below 6 per cent as we predicted three months ago and will drift sideways to slightly lower over 2010", said Chief Economist at CommSec, Craig James.

The figures have been shared by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.