6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Feb 2008 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 13/03/2008   
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FEBRUARY KEY FIGURES

Jan 2008
Feb 2008
Jan 08 to Feb 08
Feb 07 to Feb 08
Trend
Employed persons ('000)
10 629.1
10 649.7
20.6
2.7
%
Unemployed persons ('000)
462.3
456.0
-6.4
-6.4
%
Unemployment rate (%)
4.2
4.1
-0.1
pts
-0.4
pts
Participation rate (%)
65.2
65.2
0.0
pts
0.3
pts
Seasonally Adjusted
Employed persons ('000)
10 628.9
10 665.5
36.7
2.9
%
Unemployed persons ('000)
457.7
440.9
-16.8
-12.0
%
Unemployment rate (%)
4.1
4.0
-0.2
pts
-0.6
pts
Participation rate (%)
65.2
65.2
0.0
pts
0.2
pts

Employed Persons
Graph: Employed Persons

Unemployment rate
Graph: Unemployment rate



FEBRUARY KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

  • EMPLOYMENT increased to 10,649,700
  • UNEMPLOYMENT decreased to 456,000
  • UNEMPLOYMENT RATE decreased to 4.1%
  • PARTICIPATION RATE remained at 65.2%


SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

EMPLOYMENT
  • increased by 36,700 to 10,665,500. Full-time employment increased by 47,700 to 7,633,500 and part-time employment decreased by 11,000 to 3,032,100.


UNEMPLOYMENT
  • decreased by 16,800 to 440,900. The number of persons looking for full-time work decreased by 5,800 to 293,200 and the number of persons looking for part-time work decreased by 11,000 to 147,700.


UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
  • decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 4.0%. The male unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 3.6%, and the female unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 4.4%.


PARTICIPATION RATE
  • remained steady at 65.2%.


NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE Release Date
March 2008 10 April 2008
April 2008 8 May 2008
May 2008 12 June 2008
June 2008 10 July 2008
July 2008 7 August 2008
August 2008 11 September 2008



IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW SAMPLE DESIGN

Following each Census of Population and Housing, the ABS selects a new sample for the Labour Force Survey. This is done to ensure that the sample continues to accurately represent the distribution of the Australian population. A new sample has recently been selected based on the 2006 Census.


In order to reduce the potential impact of the change in sample on labour force statistics, the new sample will be introduced progressively, taking advantage of the existing rotation scheme. Using this scheme, the private dwelling sample in larger urban centres and less remote areas, representing approximately four-fifths of the total sample, will be phased in over the period November 2007 to June 2008. Within these areas, one-eighth of the new sample will be introduced each month under existing sample rotation arrangements. The rest of the sample (in remote, less populated areas and for non-private dwellings) will be introduced in two stages, March and April 2008. Detailed information about the new sample is provided in Information Paper: Labour Force Survey Sample Design (cat. no. 6269.0), which was released on 28 November 2007.


An analysis of the incoming and outgoing components of the sample indicates that the phasing in of the new sample has had minimal impact on the estimates.



ANNUAL SEASONAL REANALYSIS

Recently, the ABS has developed improved methods of producing seasonally adjusted estimates, focused on the application of Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) modelling techniques. The revision properties of the seasonally adjusted and trend estimates can be improved by the use of ARIMA modelling. ARIMA modelling relies on the characteristics of the series being analysed to project future period data. The projected values are temporary, intermediate values, that are only used internally to improve the estimation of the seasonal factors. The projected data do not affect the original estimates and are discarded at the end of the seasonal adjustment process. The ABS has implemented the improved method into the Labour Force Survey during the annual seasonal reanalysis. This month's issue of the publication is the first using the improved method.



INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Mary Piechowski on Canberra (02) 6252 6525.