Australia’s unemployment rate fell to 5.1 per cent in August, official figures show.

The July figure was 5.2 per cent.

Total employment fell 8,800 to 11.498 million in August, according to the seasonally adjusted figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.

The forecast was for total employment to rise by 5,000 in August with the unemployment rate at 5.3 per cent, according to the median of 16 market economists surveyed by AAP.

Full-time employment rose by 600 to 8.071 million in August and part-time employment was down 9,300 to 3.427 million.

The August participation rate was 65.0 per cent, compared with 65.2 per cent in July.

The August participation rate was forecast to be 65.2 per cent.

The ABS report also showed aggregate hours worked by employed people in Australia fell by 0.4 per cent in August, seasonally adjusted, after a rise of 0.8 per cent in July.

Aggregate hours worked in August 2012 were 0.7 per cent lower than in August 2011, after a rise of 1.5 per cent between August 2010 and August 2011.