A rise in the number of unemployed people in Australia to 6.2 per cent will come as unwelcome news for politicians, who last month celebrated a surprise drop in unemployment.

The rise, widely predicted by economists, brings the number of people out of work to 769,500.

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The Australian Bureau of Statistics now puts the total number of employed people at 11,724,600. That’s a drop of 2,900 since March.

In total, 47,900 males left full-time employment, while 10,700 women left part-time employment for females.

These losses were offset by increases in male part-time employment (up 29,700) and female full-time employment (up 26,000), the ABS said.