Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased 0.2 percentage points to 5.6 per cent in March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) announced. 

The ABS reported the number of people employed decreased by 36,100 to 11,592,700 in March. Both part-time and full-time employment decreased, part-time employment down 28,700 people to 3,481,500 and full-time employment, down 7,400 to 8,111,300 people. The decrease in total employment was mainly driven by decreases in male part-time and female full-time employment.

The number of people unemployed increased by 25,900 people to 686,900 in March, the ABS reported.

The ABS monthly seasonally adjusted aggregate hours worked series decreased in March, down 5.0 million hours to 1,627.3 million hours.

The ABS reported a seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate decrease of 0.2 percentage points to 65.1 per cent in March. 

More details are contained in the March 2013 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0), as well as the upcoming March 2013 issue of Labour Force, Australia, Detailed (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001) due for release next week on April 18. These publications are available for free download (after release) from the ABS website - www.abs.gov.au.