Australian Bureau of Statistics data released today shows the state’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for December was 3.9 per cent – down from 4 per cent in November.

The slight drop means South Australia no longer has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. The Northern Territory (4 per cent) now holds the title.

The national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.5 per cent.

South Australia added 3100 jobs last month, with the number of employed people increasing from 920,300 to 923,400.

However, the state’s underemployment rate, which measures part-time workers who want more hours and full-time workers who did not work full-time hours, rose one percentage point to reach 7.9 per cent.

It is the highest underemployment rate in Australia ahead of Tasmania (7.4 per cent), Queensland (6.5 per cent) and Victoria (6.2 per cent).

It is also well above the national underemployment average of 6.1 per cent.

The state’s participation rate, which measures the percentage of people either in work or looking for it, remained unchanged at 63.5 per cent.

The national participation rate dropped slightly to 66.6 per cent.

Across Australia, 14,600 jobs disappeared from the economy. South Australia, Western Australia and the ACT were the only jurisdictions to add jobs in December.