Labour force figures released Thursday highlighted the underlying strength and resilience of the Australian economy in the face of heightened global instability.

Australia's unemployment rate tumbled from a 10-month high to 5.2 per cent in September, national official data has revealed. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported 20,400 jobs were created in September, which was double market expectations.

Queensland led the job surge, where the unemployment rate fell to 5.4 per cent from 6.3 per cent in August.

“What is most pleasing about these results is that we saw an encouraging increase in full-time employment in the month, rising by 10,800 workers, with part-time employment increasing by 9,600 to a record high,” said Minister for Skills and Jobs, Senator Chris Evans.

“The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ labour force figures also show the participation rate remains at near historically high levels at 65.6 per cent.

Evans explained Thursday’s result builds on Australia’s exceptional jobs record, with the economy creating around 750,000 jobs since Labor came to office in 2007, and an extra 120,400 jobs in the past year alone.

This stands in stark contrast to stubbornly high rates of unemployment seen in many advanced economies, with Australia’s unemployment rate remaining at around half the rates seen in the U.S. and Europe.

“Australia’s employment growth comes at a time of global economic instability and financial market volatility,” Evans said.

“We know that that this global uncertainty is making it harder for some sectors in our patchwork economy which are under pressure from the high dollar and cautious consumer.

“But we can’t lose sight of the fact that our fundamental economic strength makes us better placed than almost every other advanced economy to deal with the global instability.

“We have a growing economy, low unemployment, strong trade linkages to rapidly growing Asian economies, a strong pipeline of business investment, a healthy financial system and very low government debt," Evans concluded.