Aust jobless rate 5.6% in Sept October 10, 2013 - 11:37AM Australia's unemployment rate fell to a four-month low of 5.6 per cent in September, official figures show. The total number of people with jobs rose by 9,100 to 11.646 million in the month, according to seasonally adjusted figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday. The median forecast for the unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent in September, with total employment growth of 15,000, according to AAP's survey of 15 market economists. Full-time employment rose by 5,000 to 8.134 million in September and part-time employment was up 4,100 to 3.512 million. The September participation rate was 64.9 per cent, down from 65.0 per cent in August. The participation rate is the proportion of the population that have a job, are looking for work or ready to start work.