Sydney, Oct 11 (IANS): Australia's unemployment rate increased 0.3 percent to 5.4 percent in September, from 5.1 percent in August, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported Thursday.
The September jobless rate was higher than the economists' forecast of 5.2 percent, reported Xinhua.
The ABS said the number of people employed rose by 14,500 to 11,511,900 in September, while the number of people unemployed increased by 38,800 to 662,700 in the same month.
Full-time employment rose by 32,100 to 8,107,000 in September while part-time employment fell by 17,700 to 3,404,900.
The September participation rate was 65.2 percent, compared with 65.0 percent in August.