APRIL KEY FIGURES

		Mar 2017	Apr 2017	Mar 17 to Apr 17		Apr 16 to Apr 17
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	12 051.4	12 071.3	19.9		1.3	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	742.8	744.4	1.7		2.8	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.8	5.8	0.0	pts	0.1	pts
	Participation rate (%)	64.7	64.8	0.0	pts	-0.1	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	12 061.9	12 099.3	37.4		1.6	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	751.4	732.3	-19.1		1.3	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.9	5.7	-0.2	pts	0.0	pts
	Participation rate (%)	64.8	64.8	0.0	pts	0.0	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

APRIL KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 19,900 to 12,071,300.
• Unemployment increased 1,700 to 744,400.
• Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.8%.
• Participation rate increased by less than 0.1 pts to 64.8%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased 2.0 million hours (0.12%) to 1,663.6 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 37,400 to 12,099,300. Full-time employment decreased 11,600 to 8,227,400 and part-time employment increased 49,000 to 3,871,900.
• Unemployment decreased 19,100 to 732,300. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 12,300 to 514,200 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work decreased 6,800 to 218,000.
• Unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 pts to 5.7%.
• Participation rate remained steady at 64.8%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased 4.3 million hours (0.26%) to 1,659.5 million hours.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
May 2017	15 June 2017
June 2017	20 July 2017
July 2017	17 August 2017
August 2017	14 September 2017
September 2017	19 October 2017
October 2017	16 November 2017

IMPACT OF CYCLONE DEBBIE ON ESTIMATES

The damage caused by Cyclone Debbie in Queensland resulted in a marginal increase in the sample loss in the Fitzroy region in April 2017, of less than 20 dwellings. This did not have any observable impact on estimates for Queensland.


ANNUAL SEASONAL RE-ANALYSIS OF QUARTERLY LABOUR FORCE SERIES

The annual seasonal re-analysis of Labour Force series was conducted on estimates up to February 2017 and reflected in the monthly estimates in the March issue. The results will be applied to the quarterly series in the May 2017 issue, to coincide with the next available quarterly data. Improvements in the prior corrections used for quarterly estimates of underemployment and underutilisation will be reflected in revisions to publication tables 20 and 21, and time series spreadsheets 22 and 23.

The quarterly seasonally adjusted employed total, in time series spreadsheet 4 in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly (cat. no. 6291.0.55.003) will also be revised to reflect improved correction factors. This will ensure closer alignment with both the sum of the industry divisions, and the monthly employment estimate.


ONLINE COLLECTION IN THE LABOUR FORCE SURVEY

This issue provides an update on online collection in the Labour Force Survey.


ROUNDING

Estimates of changes shown on the front cover and used in the commentary have been calculated using unrounded estimates, and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movement obtained from the rounded estimates. The graphs on the front cover also depict unrounded estimates.


SAMPLING ERROR

The estimates in this publication are based on a sample survey. Published estimates and movements are subject to sampling variability. Standard errors give a measure of sampling variability. The interval bounded by two standard errors is the 95% confidence interval, which provides a way of looking at the variability inherent in estimates. There is a 95% chance that the true value of the estimate lies within that interval.

MOVEMENTS IN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED SERIES BETWEEN MARCH 2017 AND APRIL 2017
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	37 400	-21 600	to	96 400
Total Unemployment	-19 100	-58 500	to	20 300
Unemployment rate	-0.2 pts	-0.6 pts	to	0.2 pts
Participation rate	0.0 pts	-0.4 pts	to	0.4 pts

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, email <client.services@abs.gov.au> or contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.