Labour Force, Australia

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Headline estimates of employment, unemployment, underemployment, participation and hours worked from the monthly Labour Force Survey

Reference period
December 2023
Released
18/01/2024

Key statistics

In trend terms, in December 2023:

  • unemployment rate remained at 3.8%. 
  • participation rate remained at 67.0%.
  • employment increased to 14,246,000.
  • employment to population ratio decreased to 64.4%.
  • underemployment rate remained at 6.5%.
  • monthly hours worked decreased to 1,928 million.

In seasonally adjusted terms, in December 2023:

  • unemployment rate remained at 3.9%.
  • participation rate decreased to 66.8%.
  • employment decreased to 14,201,100.
  • employment to population ratio decreased to 64.2%.
  • underemployment rate remained at 6.5%.
  • monthly hours worked decreased to 1,926 million.
  • full-time employment decreased by 106,600 to 9,791,200 people.
  • part-time employment increased by 41,400 to 4,409,900 people.
Key statistics - Trend
Nov-2023Dec-2023Monthly changeMonthly change (%)Yearly changeYearly change (%)
Employed people14,227,20014,246,00018,8000.1%418,5003.0%
Unemployed people565,300569,0003,7000.7%65,60013.0%
Unemployment rate3.8%3.8%0.0 ptsna0.3 ptsna
Underemployment rate6.5%6.5%0.0 ptsna0.4 ptsna
Participation rate67.0%67.0%-0.1 ptsna0.2 ptsna
Monthly hours worked in all jobs 1,933 million 1,928 million-5 million-0.2%19 million1.0%
Key statistics - Seasonally adjusted
Nov-2023Dec-2023Monthly changeMonthly change (%)Yearly changeYearly change (%)
Employed people14,266,20014,201,100-65,100-0.5%381,0002.8%
Unemployed people574,400573,600-800-0.1%76,00015.3%
Unemployment rate3.9%3.9%0.0 ptsna0.4 ptsna
Underemployment rate6.5%6.5%0.0 ptsna0.4 ptsna
Participation rate67.3%66.8%-0.4 ptsna0.1 ptsna
Monthly hours worked in all jobs 1,936 million 1,926 million-10 million-0.5%23 million1.2%

Estimates of changes throughout this release are calculated using un-rounded level estimates and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements obtained from the rounded level estimates.

For definitions of labour statistics used in this publication, please refer to Glossary of Labour Force, Australia methodology.

Survey impacts and changes

Impacts from floods in Queensland

Upcoming improvements to the Labour Force estimation method in early 2024

New Labour Force Survey sample phase-in

Update on enhanced regional labour market data

Survey response and timeline

Unemployment

In trend terms, in December 2023:

  • unemployment rate remained at 3.8%.
  • unemployed people increased by 3,700 to 569,000. 
  • youth unemployment rate increased to 9.4%.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, December 2023.

Employment

In trend terms, in December 2023, employment increased by 18,800 people (0.1%) to 14,246,000 people.

Flows into and out of employment

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, December 2023.

Full-time and part-time employment

In trend terms, in December 2023:

  • full-time employment decreased by 1,800 to 9,857,100 people, and part-time employment increased by 20,600 to 4,388,900 people.
  • part-time share of employment was 30.8%.

 

Employment-to-population ratio

In trend terms, in December 2023, the employment-to-population ratio deceased to 64.4%.

The employment-to-population ratio provides a measure of employment relative to the size of the population.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, December 2023.

Hours worked

In trend terms, in December 2023, monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased by 4.7 million hours (-0.2%) to 1,928 million hours.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, December 2023.

Participation

In trend terms, in December 2023, the participation rate:

  • remained at 67.0%.
  • decreased to 71.3% for men and remained at 62.8% for women.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, December 2023.

Underemployment

In trend terms, in December 2023:

  • underemployment rate remained at 6.5%.
  • underutilisation rate remained at 10.3%.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, December 2023.

States and Territories

December 2023 - Trend
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed people4,431,5003,689,7002,879,700954,5001,591,800288,000138,200268,60014,246,000
Employed people - monthly change0.3%0.1%0.3%-0.1%0.3%0.1%0.1%0.0%0.1%
Employment to population ratio64.0%64.8%63.9%61.5%66.9%59.9%69.9%70.0%64.4%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change0.0 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts-0.2 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts-0.2 pts-0.1 pts
Unemployment rate3.4%4.0%4.4%3.8%3.8%3.9%4.6%3.8%3.8%
Unemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts-0.1 pts0.1 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts
Underemployment rate6.5%6.5%7.1%7.4%6.0%6.8%4.4%4.9%6.5%
Underemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts0.1 pts0.1 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts
Participation rate66.3%67.5%66.8%64.0%69.5%62.3%73.3%72.8%67.0%
Participation rate - monthly change0.1 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.2 pts-0.2 pts-0.1 pts
December 2023 - Seasonally adjusted
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed people4,423,6003,682,1002,883,600945,8001,587,600288,500140,400267,80014,201,100
Employed people - monthly change-0.8%-0.3%-0.1%-1.3%-0.4%0.6%1.4%-0.2%-0.5%
Employment to population ratio63.9%64.7%64.0%61.0%66.7%60.0%71.1%69.9%64.2%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change-0.6 pts-0.3 pts-0.2 pts-0.9 pts-0.4 pts0.3 pts0.9 pts-0.2 pts-0.4 pts
Unemployment rate3.4%4.0%4.3%3.9%3.9%3.6%4.5%3.9%3.9%
Unemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.2 pts0.0 pts-0.2 pts0.3 pts0.0 pts
Underemployment rate6.5%6.2%7.2%7.5%6.3%6.9%4.5%5.0%6.5%
Underemployment rate - monthly change0.1 pts-0.3 pts0.2 pts0.5 pts0.5 pts0.1 pts0.5 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts
Participation rate66.2%67.4%66.9%63.5%69.4%62.2%74.4%72.7%66.8%
Participation rate - monthly change-0.6 pts-0.3 pts-0.3 pts-0.9 pts-0.3 pts0.3 pts0.8 pts0.0 pts-0.4 pts

Historical charts

Historical charts for employed, unemployed, unemployment rate and participation rate from August 1966 to December 2023

Rotation group analysis

Sample composition and rotation

Estimates for the incoming and outgoing rotation groups

States and Territories

Comparability with seasonally adjusted and trend data

Contribution from sample components to estimates

Data downloads

Labour Force Survey results are released in three stages.

  1. Spreadsheets of the headline indicators are published in this release
  2. Additional, more detailed spreadsheets and pivot tables are published in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed one week after this first release
  3. Longitudinal labour force microdata are released in the ABS DataLab on a monthly basis, one day after the detailed release (see Microdata: Longitudinal Labour Force, Australia)

See the Survey output section of Labour Force, Australia methodology for more information.

Labour Force status

Data files

Hours worked

Data files

Underemployment and underutilisation

Data files

Flows into and out of employment

GM1 - Labour force status and Gross changes (flows) by Age, Sex, State and Territory, December 2003 to December 2023

GM1 - Labour force status and Gross changes (flows) by Age, Sex, State and Territory, Historical (from February 1991)

All time series spreadsheets

All time series spreadsheets


 

Data Explorer datasets

Caution: Data in the Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the time period when using Data Explorer.

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data Explorer user guide.

Labour Force status by Sex, State and Territory - Number of people employed, unemployed and not in the labour force, monthly, February 1978 and onwards.

Labour Force monthly hours worked by Sex, State and Territory - Monthly hours worked by employed people, monthly, July 1978 and onwards.

Labour Force status by Age Groups - Number of people employed, unemployed and not in the labour force, monthly, February 1978 and onwards.

Article archive

Employment and jobs

Unemployment and underemployment

Hours worked

Methodology

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6202.0.

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