AUGUST KEY FIGURES

		Jul 2013	Aug 2013	Jul 13 to Aug 13		Aug 12 to Aug 13
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 649.8	11 648.3	-1.5		1.0	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	707.7	712.4	4.7		11.0	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.7	5.8	0.0	pts	0.5	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.1	65.1	0.0	pts	-0.1	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 647.9	11 637.1	-10.8		0.9	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	704.7	714.1	9.4		14.6	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.7	5.8	0.1	pts	0.7	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.1	65.0	-0.1	pts	-0.1	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

AUGUST KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment decreased to 11,648,300.
• Unemployment increased to 712,400.
• Unemployment rate at 5.8%.
• Participation rate steady at 65.1% from a revised July 2013 estimates.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased to 1,647.3 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment decreased 10,800 (0.1%) to 11,637,100. Full-time employment decreased 2,600 to 8,128,800 and part-time employment decreased 8,200 to 3,508,300.
• Unemployment increased 9,400 (1.3%) to 714,100. The number of persons looking for full-time work decreased 2,300 to 516,300 and the number of persons looking for part-time work increased 11,700 to 197,800.
• The unemployment rate increased 0.1 pts to 5.8%.
• The participation rate decreased 0.1 pts to 65.0%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 1.1 million hours to 1,650.0 million hours.

LABOUR UNDERUTILISATION (QUARTERLY CHANGE)

• Trend estimates: The labour force underutilisation rate increased 0.4 pts to 13.5%.
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: The labour force underutilisation rate increased 0.7 pts to 13.7%. The male labour force underutilisation rate increased 0.6 pts to 11.8%. The female labour force underutilisation increased 0.8 pts to 15.9%.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
September 2013	10 October 2013
October 2013	7 November 2013
November 2013	12 December 2013
December 2013	16 January 2014
January 2014	13 February 2014
February 2014	13 March 2014

ABOUT THE DATA

The About the Data section on pages 4-5 provides information on:

• Implementation of sample redesign
• Introduction of online self completion
• Response rate.

ROUNDING

Estimates of monthly and quarterly 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, 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 Standard Errors section). 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.

The standard errors may not fully reflect the variability resulting from a lower response rate in August. See About the Data on pages 4-5.

MOVEMENTS IN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED SERIES BETWEEN JULY 2013 AND AUGUST 2013
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	-10 800	-72 400	to	50 800
Total Unemployment	9 400	-29 000	to	47 800
Unemployment rate	0.1 pts	-0.3 pts	to	0.5 pts
Participation rate	-0.1 pts	-0.5 pts	to	0.3 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.