After hitting a six-year low of 5.4 per cent in June, the jobless rate increased last month to 5.7 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released today.

South Australia’s rate was the third lowest in Australia, only bettered by NSW and Victoria.

The state’s unemployment rate is bumping up and down broadly in line with the participation rate – the proportion of the population either in work or actively looking for a job.

The participation rate increased slightly – from 62.6 per cent in June (seasonally adjusted) to 62.9 per cent in July.

The more stable trend unemployment rate was unchanged on 5.6 per cent.

Industry and Skills Minister David Pisoni said the fact that more people were looking for work showed South Australians had greater confidence in the economy.

“While it’s pleasing to see growth in local employment and the number of South Australians looking for a job, the slight increase in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate shows there is much more work required to further strengthen our economy,” he said.

Source: ABS

Nationally, unemployment dropped slightly from 5.4 per cent to 5.3 per cent, beating economist expectations, although the participation rate has fallen.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate improves on June’s 5.4 per cent result, while employment fell by 3,900 jobs to 12.575 million and the participation rate fell by 0.1 point to 65.5 per cent.

Full-time employment increased by 19,300 to 8.587 million people and part-time employment fell by 23,200 to 3.988 million.

Economists were expecting an increase of 15,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to remain at 5.4 per cent.

The Australian dollar has risen on the news to be trading at 72.6 US cents at 1144 AEST, up from 72.35 US cents immediately before the 1130 AEST data release.

– with AAP