6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Dec 2018 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/01/2019   
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DECEMBER 2018 KEY FIGURES

Nov 2018
Dec 2018
Nov 18 to Dec 18
Dec 17 to Dec 18
Trend
Employed persons ('000)
12,688.5
12,711.6
23.1
2.3 %
Unemployed persons ('000)
674.1
670.9
-3.2
-6.5 %
Unemployment rate (%)
5.0
5.0
0.0 pts
-0.5 pts
Underemployment rate (%)
8.3
8.4
0.0 pts
-0.1 pts
Participation rate (%)
65.6
65.6
0.0 pts
0.0 pts
Monthly hours worked in all jobs ('000 000)
1,758.9
1,759.9
1.1
1.5 %
Seasonally Adjusted
Employed persons ('000)
12,692.5
12,714.1
21.6
2.2 %
Unemployed persons ('000)
680.8
666.7
-14.1
-9.5 %
Unemployment rate (%)
5.1
5.0
-0.1 pts
-0.6 pts
Underemployment rate (%)
8.5
8.4
-0.1 pts
-0.1 pts
Participation rate (%)
65.7
65.6
0.0 pts
-0.1 pts
Monthly hours worked in all jobs ('000 000)
1,757.7
1,758.9
1.3
1.5 %

Employed Persons

Graph Employed persons, December 2013 to December 2018


Unemployment Rate

Graph Unemployment Rate, December 2013 to December 2018



DECEMBER KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES
    • Employment increased 23,100 to 12,711,600. Full-time employment increased 11,800 to 8,697,600 and part-time employment increased 11,200 to 4,014,000.
    • Unemployment decreased 3,200 to 670,900.
    • Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.0%.
    • Participation rate remained steady at 65.6%.
    • Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 1.1 million hours to 1759.9 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES
    • Employment increased 21,600 to 12,714,100. Full-time employment decreased 3,000 to 8,678,800 and part-time employment increased 24,600 to 4,035,300.
    • Unemployment decreased 14,100 to 666,700.
    • Unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percentage points (pts) to 5.0%.
    • Participation rate decreased by less than 0.1 pts to 65.6%.
    • Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 1.3 million hours to 1758.9 million hours.

LABOUR UNDERUTILISATION
    • The monthly trend underemployment rate increased less than 0.1 pts to 8.4%. The monthly underutilisation rate remained steady at 13.4%.
    • The monthly seasonally adjusted underemployment rate decreased 0.1 pts to 8.4%. The monthly underutilisation rate decreased 0.2 pts to 13.3%.


NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES
IssueRelease Date
January 2019 21 February 2019
February 2019 21 March 2019
March 2019 18 April 2019
April 2019 16 May 2019
May 201913 June 2019
June 201918 July 2019



REVIEW OF DETAILED LABOUR FORCE DATA - QUARTERLY EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT AND SECTOR DATA
The ABS is currently reviewing the usage of Labour Force data contained within the detailed monthly and quarterly releases (6291.0.55.001 and 6291.0.55.003), with an initial focus on quarterly educational attainment data and quarterly public and private sector data. The ABS is keen to hear from users of educational attainment and sector data, at labour.force@abs.gov.au, including how you use the data and the extent to which they meet your requirements.

NEW LABOUR FORCE SURVEY SAMPLE
As previously highlighted, the ABS is currently phasing in a new sample design. This began with the incoming rotation group in July 2018 and will continue through to February 2019. An information paper titled Information Paper: Labour Force Survey Sample Design, Jul 2018 (cat. no. 6269.0) was released on 30 July 2018 with detailed information on the new sample. As with each regular sample design, the impacts on the data are expected to be minimal and the ABS will monitor the quality of the estimates over the period the sample is phased in.

CESSATION OF 'WHAT IF'
Following a review of products released within Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0), the ABS confirmed the very limited use of the 'What If' information. Furthermore, the insights this product provides into trend revision scenarios are consistent over time, with previous 'What If' analysis providing a similarly useful guide to trend revisions.

The December 2018 issue is the first issue without the 'What If' information. This brings Labour Force, Australia (cat.no. 6202.) into alignment with other releases from the ABS.

Should you have any questions or concerns regarding this change, please contact us at client.services@abs.gov.au.

ROUNDING
Estimates of changes 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. Graphs 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 2018 AND DECEMBER 2018
      Monthly change
      95% Confidence interval
      Total Employment
      21 600
      -39 400
      to
      		82 600
      Total Unemployment
      -14 100
      -49 300
      to
      		21 100
      Unemployment rate
      -0.1 pts
      -0.3 pts
      to
      		0.1 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.