Aust jobless rate fell to 5.2% in July

Australia's unemployment fell to 5.2 per cent in July, official figures show.

The June figure was an upwardly revised 5.3 per cent.

Total employment rose 14,000 to 11.513 million in July, according to the seasonally adjusted figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.

The forecast was for total employment to rise by 10,000 in July with the unemployment rate at 5.3 per cent, according to the median of 17 market economists surveyed by AAP.

Full-time employment rose by 9,200 to 8.074 million in July and part-time employment was up 4,800 to 3.439 million.

The July participation rate was 65.2 per cent, compared with 65.3 per cent in June.

The participation rate was forecast to be 65.3 per cent.

The ABS report also showed aggregate hours worked by employed people in Australia rose by 0.8 per cent in July, seasonally adjusted, after a fall of 1.2 per cent in June.

Aggregate hours worked in July 2012 were 0.2 per cent lower than in July 2011, after a rise of 2.2 per cent between July 2010 and July 2011.

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