DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Nov 2011	Dec 2011	Nov 11 to Dec 11		Dec 10 to Dec 11
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 442.3	11 440.1	-2.1		0.2	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	634.0	634.2	0.2		4.1	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.3	5.3	0.0	pts	0.2	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.4	65.4	-0.1	pts	-0.5	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 450.6	11 421.3	-29.3		0.0	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	633.7	629.9	-3.8		6.4	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.2	5.2	0.0	pts	0.3	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.5	65.2	-0.3	pts	-0.6	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment decreased to 11,440,100.
• Unemployment increased to 634,200.
• Unemployment rate steady at 5.3%.
• Participation rate at 65.4%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked decreased to 1,620.4 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment decreased 29,300 (0.3%) to 11,421,300. Full-time employment increased 24,500 persons to 8,051,000 and part-time employment decreased 53,700 persons to 3,370,300.
• Unemployment decreased 3,800 (0.6%) to 629,900. The number of persons looking for part-time work decreased 4,100 to 177,600 and the number of persons looking for full-time work increased 300 to 452,300.
• The unemployment rate remained steady at 5.2%. The male unemployment rate decreased 0.2 pts to 5.0% and the female unemployment rate increased 0.1 pts to 5.5%.
• The participation rate decreased 0.3 pts to 65.2%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 5.6 million hours to 1,622.0 million hours.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
January 2012	16 February 2012
February 2012	8 March 2012
March 2012	12 April 2012
April 2012	10 May 2012
May 2012	7 June 2012
June 2012	12 July 2012

CHANGES THIS MONTH

Usually in December, estimates are published 39 days after the commencement of interviews. This month, estimates are published 46 days after the commencement of interviews due to operational difficulties involved in collecting and processing the Labour Force Survey around the Christmas and New Year Holiday period. There has been no change to the standard pattern of interviewing which started on the 4th of December for a reference period, 27th of November to the 10th of December.


ROUNDING

Estimates of monthly change shown on the front cover have been calculated using unrounded estimates, and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements 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 the movements derived from them are subject to sampling variability. Standard errors give a measure of sampling variability (see pages 34 and 35). 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 2011 AND DECEMBER 2011
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	-29 300	-84 300	to	25 700
Total Unemployment	-3 800	-35 000	to	27 400
Unemployment rate	0.0 pts	-0.2 pts	to	0.2 pts
Participation rate	-0.3 pts	-0.7 pts	to	0.1 pts

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070, email client.services@abs.gov.au or Labour Force on Canberra (02) 6252 6525, email labourforce@abs.gov.au.