JANUARY KEY FIGURES

		Dec 2012	Jan 2013	Dec 12 to Jan 13		Jan 12 to Jan 13
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 541.6	11 546.7	5.1		1.0	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	655.5	657.8	2.3		5.8	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.4	5.4	0.0	pts	0.2	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.1	65.0	0.0	pts	-0.3	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 538.7	11 549.1	10.4		0.9	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	657.6	659.6	2.0		7.8	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.4	5.4	0.0	pts	0.3	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.1	65.0	-0.1	pts	-0.3	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

JANUARY KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased to 11,546,700.
• Unemployment increased to 657,800.
• Unemployment rate steady at 5.4%.
• Participation rate at 65.0%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked decreased to 1,621.0 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 10,400 (0.1%) to 11,549,100. Full-time employment decreased 9,800 to 8,098,400 and part-time employment increased 20,200 to 3,450,700.
• Unemployment increased 2,000 (0.3%) to 659,600. The number of persons looking for full-time work decreased 5,800 to 470,800 and the number of persons looking for part-time work increased 7,700 to 188,700.
• The unemployment rate remained steady at 5.4%.
• The participation rate decreased 0.1pts to 65.0%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked decreased 3.9 million hours to 1,619.7 million hours.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
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
July 2013	8 August 2013

FORTHCOMING IMPROVEMENTS TO THE CONTENT OF THE LABOUR FORCE SURVEY

The ABS is planning a number of improvements to the content of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and labour supplementary surveys. The article featured in this issue provides an update on these forthcoming improvements and outlines an updated timetable for their implementation.


NOTES RELATING TO JANUARY ISSUE

See page 3 for details on the following:

• Electronic collection of Labour Force data.
• Impact of natural disasters on January Labour Force Survey.
• Seasonal adjustment of the aggregate hours worked series.

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 35 and 36). 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 DECEMBER 2012 AND JANUARY 2013
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	10 400	-44 800	to	65 600
Total Unemployment	2 000	-31 400	to	35 400
Unemployment rate	0.0 pts	-0.2 pts	to	0.2 pts
Participation rate	-0.1 pts	-0.5 pts	to	0.3 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\>.