South Australia and Queensland were the only other states in the country to record a rise in the jobless figures _ South Australia rising from 4.4 to 4.7 per cent, while Queensland leapt from 5.5 per cent to 5.7 per cent.

Nationally, February's unemployment rate was 5.3 per cent - up marginally from a revised 5.2 per cent in January.

Almost 11,000 part-time positions were lost last month, meaning there was a net increase of just 400 jobs - the weakest month since August last year.

Economists had been tipping a net gain of 15,000 jobs for in February.

The jobless rate in NSW fell to 5.4 per cent from 5.6 per cent, seasonally adjusted.

Victoria was steady at 5.3 per cent, while Western Australia also remained unchanged at 5.6 per cent.

Queensland's jobless rate ticked up to 5.7 per cent in February from 5.5 per cent in January.

The ACT had the country's lowest unemployment rate at 3.9 per cent - up from 3.8 per cent in January.