MARCH KEY FIGURES

		Feb 2014	Mar 2014	Feb 14 to Mar 14		Mar 13 to Mar 14
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 517.4	11 531.6	14.2		0.7	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	727.1	730.4	3.2		9.2	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.9	6.0	0.0	pts	0.4	pts
	Participation rate (%)	64.7	64.7	0.0	pts	-0.4	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 535.0	11 553.2	18.1		1.1	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	743.1	713.2	-29.9		5.3	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	6.1	5.8	-0.2	pts	0.2	pts
	Participation rate (%)	64.9	64.7	-0.2	pts	-0.3	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

MARCH KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased to 11,531,600.
• Unemployment increased to 730,400 from a revised February 2014 estimate.
• Unemployment rate increased by less than 0.1 pts to 6.0%.
• Participation rate remained steady at 64.7%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 2.8 million hours (0.2%) to 1,615.6 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 18,100 to 11,553,200. Full-time employment decreased 22,100 to 8,029,100 and part-time employment increased 40,200 to 3,524,000.
• Unemployment decreased 29,900 (4.0%) to 713,200. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 16,700 to 509,800 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work decreased 13,300 to 203,400.
• The unemployment rate decreased 0.2 pts to 5.8%, based on unrounded estimates.
• Participation rate decreased 0.2 pts to 64.7%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 8.0 million hours (0.5%) to 1,617.2 million hours.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
April 2014	8 May 2014
May 2014	12 June 2014
June 2014	10 July 2014
July 2014	7 August 2014
August 2014	11 September 2014
September 2014	9 October 2014

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.

MOVEMENTS IN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED SERIES BETWEEN FEBRUARY 2014 AND MARCH 2014
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	18 100	-39 300	to	75 500
Total Unemployment	-29 900	-70 300	to	10 500
Unemployment rate	-0.2 pts	-0.6 pts	to	0.2 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\>.