Australia's unemployment rate for December was 5.0 per cent, seasonally adjusted, compared with an unrevised 5.2 per cent in November.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) says total employment rose by 2,300 to 11.417 million in the month, seasonally adjusted.
Full-time employment rose by 1,700 to 8.034 million in December and part-time employment was up by 600 to 3.383 million, the ABS said on Thursday.
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The participation rate in December was a 65.8 per cent, from a downwardly revised 66.0 per cent in November.
The forecast was for total employment to have risen by 25,000 in December with an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent and participation rate of 66.1 per cent, according to the median of 12 economists surveyed by AAP.
The ABS report also showed aggregate hours worked by employed people in Australia fell by 0.2 per cent in December, seasonally adjusted, after being unchanged in November.
Aggregate hours worked in December 2010 were 2.8 per cent higher than in December 2009.
