Canberra, April 18 (IANS): Australia's unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.8 per cent in March, official data has revealed.

According to figures published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday, the number of employed Australians fell by 6,600 between February and March, driving unemployment up from 3.7 per cent to 3.8 per cent, Xinhua news agency reported.

News Corp Australia newspapers reported that economists had generally expected unemployment to hit 3.9 per cent in March.

The fall in employment comes after the number of employed Australians grew by 116,500 between January and February.

The ABS said the number of Australians employed in full-time roles grew by 27,900 between February and March but part-time employment fell by 34,500 in the same period.

Despite the net job loss, the total number of hours worked by Australians was 17 million or 0.9 percent higher in March than in February and 1.7 per cent higher than in March 2023.

The participation rate, which measures the proportion of the working-age population who are either employed or actively looking for work, fell slightly from 66.7 per cent to 66.6 per cent.

Bjorn Jarvis, head of labor statistics at the ABS, said in a media release that the participation rate was much higher than pre-pandemic levels and close to the record high of 67 per cent set in November, 2023.