DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Nov 2017	Dec 2017	Nov 17 to Dec 17		Dec 16 to Dec 17
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	12 394.8	12 419.8	25.0		3.3	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	714.9	715.0	0.1		-2.5	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.5	5.4	0.0	pts	-0.3	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.5	65.5	0.1	pts	0.9	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	12 406.1	12 440.8	34.7		3.3	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	710.1	730.6	20.5		-1.0	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.4	5.5	0.1	pts	-0.2	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.5	65.7	0.2	pts	0.9	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 25,000 to 12,419,800.
• Unemployment increased 100 to 715,000.
• Unemployment rate decreased by less than 0.1 pts to 5.4%.
• Participation rate remained steady at 65.5%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 4.0 million hours (0.2%) to 1,738.4 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 34,700 to 12,440,800. Full-time employment increased 15,100 to 8,518,900 and part-time employment increased 19,500 to 3,921,800.
• Unemployment increased 20,500 to 730,600. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work increased 9,900 to 501,800 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work increased 10,600 to 228,800.
• Unemployment rate increased 0.1 pts to 5.5%
• Participation rate increased by 0.2 pts to 65.7%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased 4.2 million hours (0.2%) to 1,736.4 million hours.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
January 2018	15 February 2018
February 2018	22 March 2018
March 2018	19 April 2018
April 2018	17 May 2018
May 2018	14 June 2018
June 2018	19 July 2018

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 NOVEMBER 2017 AND DECEMBER 2017
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	34 700	-25 500	to	94 900
Total Unemployment	20 500	-16 700	to	57 700
Unemployment rate	0.1 pts	-0.1 pts	to	0.3 pts
Participation rate	0.2 pts	-0.2 pts	to	0.6 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.