Australia’s unemployment rate rose to 5.1 per cent in July, official figures show.

The June figure was an unrevised 4.9 per cent.

Total employment was steady at 11.450 million in the month.

Full-time employment fell by 22,200 to 8.055 million in July and part-time employment was up 22,100 at 3.395 million.

The July participation rate was 65.6 per cent, steady with an unrevised 65.6 per cent in June.

The forecast was for total employment to have risen by 10,000 in July with unemployment steady at 4.9 per cent, according to the median of 13 economists surveyed by AAP.

The participation rate was forecast to be 65.6 per cent.

The ABS report also showed aggregate hours worked by employed people in Australia rose by 0.2 per cent in July, seasonally adjusted.

That followed a rise of 0.6 per cent in June, which in turn followed a rise of 0.6 per cent in May.

Aggregate hours worked in July 2011 were 2.6 per cent higher than in July 2010, compared with a rise of 3.4 per cent between July 2009 and July 2010.