The dire forecast is almost twice the level of 5.1 per cent recorded in February before the coronavirus began to paralyse the economy.
The jobless figures would be the worst in 26 years.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the $130 billion JobKeeper scheme passed by parliament last week to subsidise the wages of staff kept in employment is softening the impact of the virus.
“In the absence of the $130 billion jobkeeper payments, Treasury estimates the unemployment rate would be five percentage points higher and would peak at around 15 per cent,” Frydenberg said.
“More than 800,000 businesses have already registered for JobKeeper payment, which will allow the economy to recover more quickly once we are through to the other side of the crisis.”
The government has been criticised for excluding certain workers from the scheme.
Morrison has defended this decision, saying “the line has to be drawn somewhere”.
The predicted 10 per cent unemployment rate would be the highest since April 1994, when Australia was still recovering from the 1990-91 recession.
Frydenberg will be talking to his G20 counterparts this week by phone to gauge the impact of the pandemic on other countries.
