Sydney, Oct 10 (IANS): The Australian unemployment rate dropped to a four-month low of 5.6 percent in September, according to official figures released Thursday.

The number of employed people rose by 9,100 to 11.65 million in September on a seasonally adjusted basis with growth in both full time employment and part time employment, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Full time employment rose by 5,000 to 8.13 million while part time jobs increased by 4,100 to 3.51 million in September, reports Xinhua.

The number of unemployed people fell by 14,700 to 697,100 in the last month.

According to a survey, the median forecast for the unemployment rate was 5.8 percent for the month, with total employment growth of 15,000.

The ABS data also showed that the labour force participation rate has come down from 65 percent in August to 64.9 percent in September.

The participation rate is the proportion of the population that have a job and are ready to start work.