Australia's unemployment rate was 5.3 percent in February after a revised 5.2 percent in January, new data released Thursday showed.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) announced on Thursday that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points from the downwardly revised 5.2 percent observed in January 2010.
The ABS reported the number of people employed in February slightly increased, up 400 people to 10.971 million, seasonally adjusted.
The rise in employment was driven by a rise in full-time employment, up 11,400 people to 7.660 million that was offset by a fall in part-time employment, down 11,000 people to 3.311 million.
The number of people unemployed had increased, up 10,700 people to 615,900 in February, the ABS said.
The ABS participation rate in February decreased 0.1 percentage points to 65.2 percent.
Economists had previously expected the jobless rate to edge up to 5.4 percent with 10,000 jobs being created in February.
Source:http://news.xinhuanet.com