DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Nov 2012	Dec 2012	Nov 12 to Dec 12		Dec 11 to Dec 12
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 534.5	11 541.5	7.0		1.0	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	652.5	653.8	1.4		4.8	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.4	5.4	0.0	pts	0.2	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.1	65.1	0.0	pts	-0.2	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 544.4	11 538.9	-5.5		1.3	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	639.8	656.4	16.6		5.9	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.3	5.4	0.1	pts	0.2	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.1	65.1	0.0	pts	-0.1	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased to 11,541,500.
• Unemployment increased to 653,800.
• Unemployment rate steady at 5.4% from a revised November 2012 estimate.
• Participation rate steady at 65.1%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased to 1,622.9 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment decreased 5,500 (0.0%) to 11,538,900. Full-time employment decreased 13,800 to 8,112,500 and part-time employment increased 8,300 to 3,426,400.
• Unemployment increased 16,600 (2.6%) to 656,400. The number of persons looking for full-time work increased 12,600 to 476,500 and the number of persons looking for part-time work increased 4,000 to 179,900.
• The unemployment rate increased 0.1 pts to 5.4%.
• The participation rate remained steady at 65.1%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked decreased 1.1 million hours to 1,623.5 million hours.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
January 2013	7 February 2013
February 2013	14 March 2013
March 2013	11 April 2013
April 2013	9 May 2013
May 2013	13 June 2013
June 2013	11 July 2013

REGULAR 5 YEARLY REBENCHMARKING OF LABOUR FORCE SERIES

As outlined in the June quarter 2012 Australian Demographic Statistics (cat. no. 3101.0), the ABS intends to revise historical estimated resident population (ERP) 20 years back to 1991. Labour force estimates will also be revised by the same period to align the labour force population benchmarks with ERP. The revised labour force estimates are expected to be released in February 2014.


ELECTRONIC COLLECTION OF LABOUR FORCE DATA

The ABS commenced a trial of on-line electronic data collection of labour force data from households in December 2012. The trial was conducted on one rotation group (i.e. one-eighth of the survey sample) and respondents were offered the option of completing the survey on-line instead of a face-to-face or telephone interview. The uptake in December was 8.2% of the rotation group (1.0% of the total labour force survey sample). The trial will continue on this same rotation group in January 2012 in which uptake of the on-line electronic collection option is expected to increase. The trial will continue for a number of months prior to a decision on rolling out progressively to the full Labour Force Survey sample.


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 2012 AND DECEMBER 2012
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	-5 500	-60 700	to	49 700
Total Unemployment	16 600	-15 400	to	48 600
Unemployment rate	0.1 pts	-0.1 pts	to	0.3 pts
Participation rate	0.0 pts	-0.4 pts	to	0.4 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.