MEDIA RELEASE
7 August 2014	Embargoed: 11.30 am (Canberra time)	117/2014

Australia's unemployment rate increased to 6.4 per cent in July 2014

Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 6.4 per cent in July 2014, as announced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.

The seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 64.8 per cent in July 2014.

The ABS reported the number of people employed decreased by 300 to 11,576,600 in July 2014 (seasonally adjusted). The decrease in employment was due to decreased part-time employment, down 14,800 people to 3,499,200. This was offset by increased full-time employment, up 14,500 people to 8,077,400. Decreases in male part-time employment and female full-time employment were largely offset by increases in male full-time employment and female part-time employment.

The ABS monthly seasonally adjusted aggregate hours worked series decreased in July 2014, down 14.8 million hours (0.9%) to 1,610.7 million hours.

The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed increased by 43,700 to 789,000 in July 2014, the ABS reported.

More details are in the July 2014 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0), as well as the upcoming July 2014 issue of Labour Force, Australia, Detailed (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001) due for release next week on August 14. These publications are available for free download (after release) from the ABS website - www.abs.gov.au.


Media note:
When reporting ABS data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) must be attributed as the source.
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