FEBRUARY KEY FIGURES

		Jan 2017	Feb 2017	Jan 17 to Feb 17		Feb 16 to Feb 17
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 993.4	12 005.0	11.6		0.8	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	733.8	738.9	5.2		1.5	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.8	5.8	0.0	pts	0.0	pts
	Participation rate (%)	64.6	64.6	0.0	pts	-0.4	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	12 005.3	11 998.8	-6.4		0.9	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	722.2	748.1	26.0		3.7	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.7	5.9	0.2	pts	0.2	pts
	Participation rate (%)	64.6	64.6	0.0	pts	-0.3	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

FEBRUARY KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 11,600 to 12,005,000.
• Unemployment increased 5,200 to 738,900.
• Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.8% following a revised January 2017 estimate.
• Participation rate remained steady at 64.6%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 1.2 million hours to 1,671.5 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment decreased 6,400 to 11,998,800. Full-time employment increased 27,100 to 8,158,900 and part-time employment decreased 33,500 to 3,840,000.
• Unemployment increased 26,000 to 748,100. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work increased 10,800 to 523,800 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work increased 15,100 to 224,300.
• Unemployment rate increased 0.2 pts to 5.9%.
• Participation rate remained steady at 64.6%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased 20.5 million hours to 1,661.9 million hours.

LABOUR UNDERUTILISATION (QUARTERLY CHANGE)

• Trend estimates: the labour force underutilisation rate increased 0.1 pts to 14.4%
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: the labour force underutilisation rate increased 0.4 pts to 14.6%. The male labour force underutilisation rate increased 0.3 pts to 12.6%. The female labour force underutilisation rate increased 0.6 pts to 16.8%.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
March 2017	13 April 2017
April 2017	18 May 2017
May 2017	15 June 2017
June 2017	20 July 2017
July 2017	17 August 2017
August 2017	14 September 2017

ANNUAL SEASONAL RE-ANALYSIS AND CHANGES TO SEASONAL FILTERS

The annual seasonal re-analysis of the Labour Force series will be conducted on estimates up to March 2017. The seasonally adjusted and trend estimates in the March 2017 issue, which will be released on 13 April 2017, will reflect minor adjustments made as a result of this annual review process (for more information see Explanatory Note 33).

As part of the 2017 re-analysis, the ABS reviewed the length of seasonal filters that are used in Labour Force series. A short article on seasonal filter lengths can be found on page 12 of this issue, with further information to be included in the March 2017 issue.


SPOTLIGHT ON FULL-TIME AND PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT

A spotlight on understanding full-time and part-time employment is included with this issue, on page 9.


ROUNDING

Estimates of changes shown on the front cover and used 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. 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 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 JANUARY 2017 AND FEBRUARY 2017
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	-6 400	-65 200	to	52 400
Total Unemployment	26 000	-13 800	to	65 800
Unemployment rate	0.2 pts	-0.2 pts	to	0.6 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.