6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Mar 2014 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 10/04/2014   
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LABOUR FORCE COMMENTARY MARCH 2014


NATIONAL ESTIMATES

Australia's unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 5.8% in March 2014 (seasonally adjusted), while in trend terms the unemployment rate increased by less than 0.1 percentage points to 6.0%. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 29,900 to 713,200 in March 2014 (seasonally adjusted), while in trend terms the number of unemployed persons in March 2014 rose by 3,200 to 730,400.

March 2014 saw the seasonally adjusted participation rate decrease by 0.2 percentage points to 64.7%, following a revision to the February 2014 estimate. The trend participation rate remained steady at 64.7% in March 2014.

The seasonally adjusted number of employed persons increased by 18,100 in March 2014 to 11,553,200 persons. In trend terms, employment increased by 14,200 persons to 11,531,600 persons in March 2014. The employment to population ratio, which expresses the number of employed persons as a percentage of the civilian population aged 15 years and over, increased by less than 0.1 percentage points to 61.0% (seasonally adjusted). The trend employment to population ratio remained steady at 60.9%.

Employment to population ratio, Persons, October 2012 to March 2014
Graph: Employment to population ratio, Persons, October 2012 to March 2014


Seasonally adjusted part-time employment increased in March 2014, up 40,200 persons to 3,524,000 persons, while full-time employment decreased by 22,100 persons to 8,029,100 persons. The increase in total employment resulted from:
  • an increase in female part-time employment, up 32,000 persons
  • an increase in male part-time employment, up 8,300 persons
  • a decrease in male full-time employment, down 8,700 persons
  • a decrease in female full-time employment, down 13,400 persons.

Seasonally adjusted aggregate hours increased by 8.0 million hours (0.5%) in March 2014 to 1,617.2 million hours.


STATE ESTIMATES

The largest absolute increases in seasonally adjusted employment were in New South Wales (up 16,300 persons) and Queensland (up 12,000 persons). The largest absolute decreases in seasonally adjusted employment were in South Australia (down 1,800 persons) and Victoria (down 1,300 persons). Seasonally adjusted estimates are not published for the territories.

Unemployment rate, State and Territories, February 2014 and March 2014

Trend
Seasonally Adjusted
February
March
February
March
%
%
%
%

New South Wales
5.6
5.5
5.7
5.3
Victoria
6.4
6.5
6.4
6.4
Queensland
6.1
6.1
6.2
6.1
South Australia
6.8
6.9
6.7
7.1
Western Australia
5.1
5.3
5.9
4.9
Tasmania
7.5
7.4
7.3
7.5
Northern Territory
3.9
3.8
np
np
Australian Capital Territory
3.5
3.4
np
np
Australia
5.9
6.0
6.1
5.8

np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated