6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Mar 2015 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 16/04/2015   
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MEDIA RELEASE
16 April 2015
Embargoed: 11.30 am (Canberra time)

49/2015
Australia's unemployment rate decreased to 6.1 per cent in March 2015

Australia's estimated seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March 2015 was 6.1 per cent, compared with a revised 6.2 per cent for February 2015 as announced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today. This represented a decrease of less than 0.1 percentage points. In trend terms, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.2 per cent.

The seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate increased to 64.8 per cent in March 2015 from 64.7 per cent in February 2015.

The ABS reported the number of people employed increased by 37,700 to 11,720,300 in March 2015 (seasonally adjusted). The increase in employment was driven by increases in full-time employment for both males (up 24,800) and females (up 6,700).

The ABS seasonally adjusted aggregate monthly hours worked series increased in March 2015, up 4.8 million hours (0.3 per cent) to 1,630.4 million hours.

The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed decreased by 1,500 to 764,500 in March 2015.

More details are in the March 2015 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0), as well as the upcoming March 2015 issue of Labour Force, Australia, Detailed (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001) due for release on April 23. These publications are available for free download (after release) from the ABS website - https://www.abs.gov.au.

Media note:
  • When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
  • Media requests and interviews - contact the ABS Communications Section on 1300 175 070.
  • Seasonally adjusted and trend series in the March 2015 issue of Labour Force, Australia have been revised back to 1978 as a result of the annual seasonal reanalysis and the incorporation of an additional month's original data. This resulted in the seasonally adjusted February 2015 unemployment rate being revised from 6.3% to 6.2%, and employment growth being revised from 15,600 to 42,000 persons. For details see page 7 of the March 2015 issue.