MARCH KEY FIGURES

		Feb 2017	Mar 2017	Feb 17 to Mar 17		Mar 16 to Mar 17
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	12 016.9	12 033.4	16.5		1.0	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	743.7	749.5	5.8		3.4	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.8	5.9	0.0	pts	0.1	pts
	Participation rate (%)	64.6	64.7	0.0	pts	-0.2	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 998.6	12 059.6	60.9		1.2	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	749.1	753.1	4.0		5.1	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.9	5.9	0.0	pts	0.2	pts
	Participation rate (%)	64.6	64.8	0.2	pts	-0.1	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

MARCH KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 16,500 to 12,033,400.
• Unemployment increased 5,800 to 749,500.
• Unemployment rate increased by less than 0.1 pts to 5.9%.
• Participation rate increased by less than 0.1 pts to 64.7%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased 0.4 million hours to 1,668.5 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 60,900 to 12,059,600. Full-time employment increased 74,500 to 8,238,600 and part-time employment decreased 13,600 to 3,821,000.
• Unemployment increased 4,000 to 753,100. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work increased 2,900 to 528,600 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work increased 1,100 to 224,500.
• Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.9%.
• Participation rate increased by 0.2 pts to 64.8%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 3.2 million hours to 1,664.2 million hours.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
April 2017	18 May 2017
May 2017	15 June 2017
June 2017	20 July 2017
July 2017	17 August 2017
August 2017	14 September 2017
September 2017	19 October 2017

ANNUAL SEASONAL RE-ANALYSIS AND CHANGES TO SEASONAL FILTERS

The annual seasonal re-analysis of Labour Force series was conducted on estimates up to February 2017. As part of the 2017 re-analysis, the ABS has also reviewed the length of seasonal filters that are used in Labour Force series. The seasonally adjusted and trend estimates in this month's issue reflect minor adjustments made as a result of this annual review process (for more information see page 8).


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 2017 AND MARCH 2017
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	60 900	2 100	to	119 700
Total Unemployment	4 000	-35 800	to	43 800
Unemployment rate	0.0 pts	-0.4 pts	to	0.4 pts
Participation rate	0.2 pts	-0.2 pts	to	0.6 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.