MARCH KEY FIGURES

		Feb 2018	Mar 2018	Feb 18 to Mar 18		Mar 17 to Mar 18
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	12 471.8	12 485.8	14.0		3.1	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	731.5	735.0	3.5		-0.9	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.5	5.6	0.0	pts	-0.2	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.6	65.7	0.0	pts	0.8	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	12 479.2	12 484.1	4.9		3.0	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	732.6	730.2	-2.4		-3.1	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.5	5.5	0.0	pts	-0.3	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.6	65.5	-0.1	pts	0.7	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

MARCH KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 14,000 to 12,485,800.
• Unemployment increased 3,500 to 735,000.
• Unemployment rate increased by less than 0.1 pts to 5.6%.
• Participation rate increased by less than 0.1 pts to 65.7%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 0.2 million hours (0.01%) to 1,733.7 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 4,900 to 12,484,100. Full-time employment decreased 19,900 to 8,514,100 and part-time employment increased 24,800 to 3,970,000.
• Unemployment decreased 2,400 to 730,200. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work increased 9,300 to 522,400 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work decreased 11,700 to 207,800.
• Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.5%
• Participation rate decreased by 0.1 pts to 65.5%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 4.5 million hours (0.26%) to 1,740.4 million hours.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
April 2018	17 May 2018
May 2018	14 June 2018
June 2018	19 July 2018
July 2018	16 August 2018
August 2018	13 September 2018
September 2018	18 October 2018

ANNUAL SEASONAL RE-ANALYSIS

As previously advised, the Annual Seasonal Re-analysis of the Labour Force series has been conducted on estimates up to February 2018. The seasonally adjusted and trend estimates in this issue reflect adjustments made as a result of this re-analysis. For further information on this please see the article "Annual Seasonal Re-analysis".


IMPROVEMENTS TO TREND ESTIMATES

As previously advised, the ABS has implemented some minor improvements to trend estimation for the Labour Force time series as part of the 2018 Annual Seasonal Re-analysis. For further information on this please see the article "Improvements to Trend Estimation".


UPDATE ON MONTHLY UNDEREMPLOYMENT ESTIMATES

As previously advised, the implementation of monthly underemployment and underutilisation measures has been delayed. The ABS will provide further advice on the revised implementation schedule in the next issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0). We thank users for their patience and understanding with this delay.


CYCLONE MARCUS

As a result of Cyclone Marcus, some operational difficulties were experienced in conducting the monthly Labour Force Survey in parts of the Northern Territory for March 2018. Investigations did not identify any major effect on aggregate estimates. The ABS will review this when April data are available. In the meantime, the ABS recommends a degree of caution when analysing Northern Territory estimates for March 2018.


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 2018 AND MARCH 2018
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	4 900	-55 100	to	64 900
Total Unemployment	-2 400	-42 000	to	37 200
Unemployment rate	0.0 pts	-0.4 pts	to	0.4 pts
Participation rate	-0.1 pts	-0.5 pts	to	0.3 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.