Australia's unemployment rate rose slightly in February after three consecutive months of decline.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the national seasonally adjusted jobless rate increased by 0.1 per cent to 5.3 per cent of the labor market last month, which is equivalent to 615,900 individuals.

The number of employed persons also rose last month to 10.971 million. This was driven by a growth in full-time work to 7.66 million, but tempered by a fall in part-time jobs to 3.311 million.

Julia Gillard, Australia's employment minister, described the figures as "steady" and suggested that an increase in full-time jobs should be welcomed.

She said: "That means that there's more work to do - more work to do to make sure that Australians around the country get the benefits of work."

Earlier this week, a survey conducted by the ANZ bank discovered that the number of job advertisements in Australia increased by 19.1 per cent in February to a weekly average of 159,778.