AUGUST KEY FIGURES

		Jul 2012	Aug 2012	Jul 12 to Aug 12		Aug 11 to Aug 12
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 507.9	11 509.1	1.2		0.6	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	628.8	629.1	0.3		0.8	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.2	5.2	0.0	pts	0.0	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.2	65.2	0.0	pts	-0.4	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 506.9	11 498.1	-8.8		0.5	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	633.2	622.6	-10.6		-2.0	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.2	5.1	-0.1	pts	-0.1	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.2	65.0	-0.2	pts	-0.6	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

AUGUST KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased to 11,509,100 from a revised July 2012 estimate.
• Unemployment increased to 629,100 from a revised July 2012 estimate.
• Unemployment rate steady at 5.2%.
• Participation rate steady at 65.2% from a revised July 2012 estimate.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked decreased to 1,619.5 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment decreased 8,800 (0.1%) to 11,498,100. Full-time employment increased 600 to 8,071,400 and part-time employment decreased 9,300 to 3,426,700.
• Unemployment decreased 10,600 (1.7%) to 622,600. The number of persons looking for full-time work increased 12,800 to 469,400 and the number of persons looking for part-time work decreased 23,400 to 153,200.
• The unemployment rate decreased 0.1 pts to 5.1%. The male unemployment rate increased 0.1 pts to 5.2% and the female unemployment rate decreased 0.2 pts to 5.0%.
• The participation rate decreased 0.2 pts to 65.0%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked decreased 5.7 million hours to 1,618.8 million hours.

LABOUR UNDERUTILISATION (QUARTERLY CHANGE)

• Trend estimates: The labour force underutilisation rate decreased 0.1 pts to 12.5%.
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: The labour force underutilisation rate decreased 0.2 pts to 12.4%. The male labour force underutilisation rate increased 0.2 pts to 10.6%. The female labour force underutilisation rate decreased 0.6 pts to 14.6%.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
September 2012	11 October 2012
October 2012	8 November 2012
November 2012	6 December 2012
December 2012	17 January 2013
January 2013	7 February 2013
February 2013	14 March 2013

REBENCHMARKING OF LABOUR FORCE SERIES

In order to better reflect recent trends in population growth, the ABS will rebenchmark Labour Force estimates in the November 2012 issue, scheduled for release on Thursday 6 December 2012. The rebenchmarking will align the Labour Force population benchmarks with the latest available information on population growth (based on estimated resident population), but would maintain the 2006 Census base for the population benchmarks.

In mid 2013, the ABS will rebenchmark the Labour Force estimates following the release of the final 2011 Census-based resident population estimates. The current 2011 Census-based population estimates are preliminary and subject to revision.


ROUNDING

Estimates of monthly change shown on the front cover have been calculated using unrounded estimates, and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements 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 the movements derived from them are subject to sampling variability. Standard errors give a measure of sampling variability (see pages 34 and 35 in the Publication on the Downloads tab). 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 JULY 2012 AND AUGUST 2012
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	-8 800	-63 600	to	46 000
Total Unemployment	-10 600	-41 400	to	20 200
Unemployment rate	-0.1 pts	-0.3 pts	to	0.1 pts
Participation rate	-0.2 pts	-0.6 pts	to	0.2 pts

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070, email client.services@abs.gov.au or Labour Force on Canberra (02) 6252 6525, email labourforce@abs.gov.au\>.