MARCH KEY FIGURES

		Feb 2016	Mar 2016	Feb 16 to Mar 16		Mar 15 to Mar 16
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 902.3	11 910.0	7.7		2.2	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	732.4	729.6	-2.8		-4.6	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.8	5.8	0.0	pts	-0.4	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.0	65.0	0.0	pts	0.2	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 883.5	11 909.6	26.1		2.0	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	730.4	723.1	-7.3		-5.6	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.8	5.7	-0.1	pts	-0.4	pts
	Participation rate (%)	64.9	64.9	0.0	pts	0.0	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

MARCH KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 7,700 to 11,910,000.
• Unemployment decreased 2,800 to 729,600.
• Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.8%.
• Participation rate remained steady at 65.0%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased 1.8 million hours to 1,643.7 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 26,100 to 11,909,600. Full-time employment decreased 8,800 to 8,180,400 and part-time employment increased 34,900 to 3,729,200.
• Unemployment decreased 7,300 to 723,100. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 7,900 to 515,900 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work decreased 1,800 to 208,400.
• Unemployment rate decreased 0.1 pts to 5.7%.
• Participation rate remained steady at 64.9%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased 17.5 million hours to 1,632.3 million hours.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
April 2016	19 May 2016
May 2016	16 June 2016
June 2016	14 July 2016
July 2016	18 August 2016
August 2016	15 September 2016
September 2016	20 October 2016

ROUNDING

Estimates of 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, movement 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 movements are subject to sampling variability. Standard errors give a measure of sampling variability. 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 2016 AND MARCH 2016
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	26 100	-32 300	to	84 500
Total Unemployment	-7 300	-46 300	to	31 700
Unemployment rate	-0.1 pts	-0.5 pts	to	0.3 pts
Participation rate	0.0 pts	-0.4 pts	to	0.4 pts

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, email client.services@abs.gov.au> or contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.