Detailed labour force data collected on a quarterly basis
See Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, which combines the previous monthly (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001) and quarterly (cat. no. 6291.0.55.003) releases, for the latest quarterly LFS data
The February 2020 issue of Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly was the final release under this title.
Data from the monthly Labour Force Survey are released in two stages. The Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - Electronic Delivery (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001) and Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly (cat. no. 6291.0.55.003) are part of the second release, and include detailed data not contained in the Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) product set, which is released one week earlier.
The Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - Electronic Delivery (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001) is released monthly. Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly (cat. no. 6291.0.55.003) includes data only collected in February, May, August and November (including industry and occupation).
Since these products are based on the same data as the Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) publication, the Labour Force, Australia - Explanatory Notes (cat. no. 6202.0) are relevant to both releases.
The ABS is currently monitoring for potential impacts from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Labour Force statistics and will continue to do so for the period of the pandemic.
Analysis of data for February did not identify any notable impact to headline statistics. It is important to note that the reference weeks for February fell in the first half of the month, at a point where there was only a relatively low number of confirmed COVID-19 cases within Australia and before it was declared a global pandemic.
As with other major disruption to the economy, early impacts are usually most evident in the Monthly hours worked in all jobs series (Spreadsheet 19) in Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0). Additional information on hours worked data, including some analysis and advice in using these data, can be found in this month's spotlight article in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - Electronic Delivery (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001) . This is part of a suite of additional information that was announced on 16 March 2020 to help measure the economic impact of COVID-19.
In addition to providing further analysis of Labour Force statistics, the ABS will be actively managing the potential risks from COVID-19 to its survey operations. The ABS suspended face-to-face interviews in the final week of the March survey, with all remaining interviews being conducted by telephone. Each month, only around 10% of households respond through face-to-face interviews, with around 90% responding through telephone interviews or online.
Respondents to the Labour Force Survey may note further changes in how the ABS contacts them over the coming months. The ABS acknowledges the tremendous support that the Australian community is continuing to provide in supporting high quality and critically important Labour Force statistics.
On 18 March, the ABS also released some interactive employment maps based on the most recent data from Jobs in Australia (cat. no 6160.0), which is based on summary administrative data, to support a regional assessment of potential impacts of COVID-19 on employment.
Bushfires resulted in disruption to ABS data collection operations in some regions in New South Wales and Victoria during January 2020. A few areas in New South Wales, particularly within the ‘Capital Region’, were also unable to be surveyed in February 2020. These areas amounted to around half the sample which was unable to be surveyed in January 2020 in the state.
As with January data, the ABS confirmed that the disruption from the bushfires did not have a notable impact on key headline statistics and that no additional statistical interventions were required.
Region level data for the New South Wales regions of the ‘Capital Region' February 2020 will not be published in the February 2020 Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly publication (cat. no. 6291.0.55.003) on 26 March. The ABS expects to resume publishing these estimates with the release of May 2020 data (in June).
Flooding in Townsville in February 2019 resulted in a major disruption to the operation of the Labour Force Survey. Given the severity of these disruptions, which affected almost the entire region, and to ensure that this loss of sample did not affect data for Australia and Queensland, the ABS imputed sample for Townsville for February 2019. The imputation drew upon previous information that had recently been collected from people in Townsville.
The ABS re-assessed this imputation and has not revised the imputed data. However, users of the Townsville data, and totals for ‘Rest of Queensland’ data, should still exercise some extra caution when looking at yearly and quarterly movements in February 2020.
The upcoming move to new ABS website provides an opportunity to simplify the way Labour Force information is released - so that it is more integrated and easier to find and use. The approach to releasing detailed Labour Force data will be changing, with all the detailed monthly and quarterly spreadsheets and datacubes that are currently released in two separate products (6291.0.55.001 and 6291.0.55.003) planned to be included in a single release (within the monthly 6291.0.55.001 product). The way the spreadsheets and datacubes are presented within this combined release will also be improved on the new website, with data grouped together thematically so that it is easier to find the data you're looking for.
This expanded monthly detailed release will always include the latest monthly and quarterly data, noting that for the 'non-quarter' months, the quarterly spreadsheets and datacubes will have a different reference period. For example, the May issue will contain May monthly and May quarterly data, while the June issue will contain June monthly and May quarterly data.
This change will occur with the release of detailed March 2020 data on 23 April, in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - Electronic Delivery (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001). This release will be expanded to also include the detailed quarterly time series spreadsheets and datacubes currently published in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly (cat. no. 6291.0.55.003) (for the February 2020 reference period). The quarterly publication Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly (cat. no. 6291.0.55.003) will still be published in respect of May 2020, but is likely to be ceased after that, in conjunction with the move to the new website. While the location of the quarterly time series spreadsheets and datacubes will change, the file names, table names and time series IDs will all remain the same.
Additionally, after a period of feedback from stakeholders, the ABS will be ceasing publishing data relating to Sector of main job (public / private) due to data quality concerns. This affects Tables 26a, 26b, 27 and 28, currently published in Labour Force, Australia, detailed, Quarterly (cat. no. 6291.0.55.003). This change is expected to also coincide with the move to the new ABS website in 2020. High quality sector information will continue to be available quarterly within the Labour Accounts (cat. no. 6150.0.55.003) and annually from Employment and Earnings, Public Sector, Australia (cat. no. 6248.0.55.002).
If you have any questions or feedback on these changes, please email us at labour.statistics@abs.gov.au.
The ABS has revised the original Labour Force series for the previous 19 months to reflect the latest available preliminary and final estimates of Estimated Resident Population. This quarterly process ensures that the Labour Force series promptly reflects any change in population trends and minimises the size of revisions that can occur when the series are rebenchmarked following each Census of Population and Housing. It is expected that, on most occasions, the quarterly revisions will not be significant.
For further information about rebenchmarking, refer to the Rebenchmarking Labour Force Estimates article published in the February 2015 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0).
For a better level estimate of public sector employment, including by level of government, the ABS recommends referring to the annual Employment and Earnings, Public Sector, Australia (cat. no. 6248.0.55.002).
For a better level estimate of public sector employment, including by level of government, the ABS recommends referring to the annual Employment and Earnings, Public Sector, Australia (cat. no. 6248.0.55.002).
For a better level estimate of public sector employment, including by level of government, the ABS recommends referring to the annual Employment and Earnings, Public Sector, Australia (cat. no. 6248.0.55.002).
For a better level estimate of public sector employment, including by level of government, the ABS recommends referring to the annual Employment and Earnings, Public Sector, Australia (cat. no. 6248.0.55.002).
The Labour Force Survey sample can be thought of as comprising eight sub-samples (or rotation groups), with each sub-sample remaining in the survey for eight months, and one rotation group "rotating out" each month and being replaced by a new group "rotating in". This sample rotation is important in ensuring that seven-eighths of the sample are common from one month to the next, to ensure that changes in the estimates reflect real changes in the labour market, rather than the sample. In addition, the replacement sample is generally selected from the same geographic areas as the outgoing one, as part of a representative sampling approach.
When considering movements in the original estimates, it is possible to decompose the sample into three components:
The detailed decomposition of each of these movements is included in the data cube 'Insights From the Original Data'.
In considering the three components of the sample, it is important to remember that the matched common sample describes the change observed for the same respondents in January and February, while the other two components reflect differences between the aggregate labour force status of different groups of people.
While the rotation groups are designed to be representative of the population, the outgoing and incoming rotation groups will almost always have somewhat different characteristics, as a result of the groups representing a sample of different households and people. The design of the survey, including the weighting and estimation processes, ensures that these differences are generally relatively minor and seeks to ensure that differences in characteristics of rotation groups do not affect the representativeness of the survey and its estimates. Monthly estimates are always designed to be representative of their respective months, regardless of the relative contribution of the three components of the sample.
In original terms, the incoming rotation group in February 2020 had a higher employment to population ratio than the group it replaced (62.7% in February 2020, compared to 61.8% in January 2020), however it was lower than the sample as a whole (62.8%). The incoming rotation group had a higher full-time employment to population ratio than the group it replaced (43.6% in February 2020, compared to 43.4% in January 2020), and was higher than the sample as a whole (43.2%).
The incoming rotation group had a higher unemployment rate than the group it replaced (5.9% in February 2020, compared to 5.3% in January 2020), and was higher than the sample as a whole (5.5%). The incoming rotation group had a higher participation rate than the group it replaced (66.6% in February 2020, compared to 65.2% in January 2020), and was higher than the sample as a whole (66.5%).
In looking ahead to the March 2020 estimates, in original terms, the outgoing rotation group in February 2020, that will be replaced by a new incoming rotation group in March 2020, had an employment to population ratio in February 2020 of (62.6%), lower than the sample as a whole (62.8%). The outgoing rotation group in February 2020 had a lower full-time employment to population ratio (42.6%) than the sample as a whole (43.2%).
The outgoing rotation group in February 2020 had a lower unemployment rate (5.1%) compared to the sample as a whole (5.5%). The outgoing rotation group in February 2020 had a lower participation rate (66.0%) compared to the sample as a whole (66.5%).
As the gross flows and rotation group data are presented in original terms they are not directly comparable to the seasonally adjusted and trend data discussed elsewhere in the commentary, and are included to provide additional information for the original data. Since the original data are unadjusted, they have a considerable level of inherent sampling variability, which is specifically adjusted for in the trend series. The trend data provides the best measure of the underlying behaviour of the labour market and is the focus of the commentary in this publication.
In addition to analysis across the entire sample, the ABS also undertakes similar analysis for the responding sample in each state and territory each month, and highlights where there is a notable change for users to be aware of. For example, in February 2020, the incoming rotation group in Victoria was more employed and less likely to be not in the labour force than the group it replaced, and was generally more employed and less likely to be not in the labour force than the matched sample. As with any notable month-to-month movement of this nature in state and territory estimates, the ABS recommends exercising a degree of caution in interpreting short-term changes.
As for its reporting for the entire sample, where the ABS has not highlighted a notable incoming rotation group effect, any larger changes should therefore be considered to reflect a broader change across the sample.
This section provides an archive of articles and analysis published in Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) and Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - Electronic Delivery (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001) and Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly (cat. no. 6291.0.55.003), promoting the effective use of labour force statistics. Articles are sorted by publication month.
Articles on labour related topics are also available in Australian Labour Market Statistics (cat. no. 6105.0) and Australian Social Trends (cat. no. 4102.0).
This release previously used catalogue number 6291.0.55.003.