6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, May 2007  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/06/2007   
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NOTE: Previously published estimates have been revised. See 'Changes this month' for details.


MAY KEY FIGURES

Apr 2007
May 2007
Apr 07
to May 07
May 06
to May 07

Trend
Employed persons ('000)
10 415.0
10 432.4
17.3
2.8
%
Unemployed persons ('000)
477.6
472.1
-5.5
-8.5
%
Unemployment rate (%)
4.4
4.3
-0.1
pts
-0.5
pts
Participation rate (%)
64.9
64.9
0.0
pts
0.4
pts
Seasonally Adjusted
Employed persons ('000)
10 414.4
10 453.8
39.4
3.1
%
Unemployed persons ('000)
474.8
463.0
-11.8
-9.3
%
Unemployment rate (%)
4.4
4.2
-0.1
pts
-0.6
pts
Participation rate (%)
64.9
65.0
0.1
pts
0.5
pts

Employed Persons
Graph: Employed Persons

Unemployment rate
Graph: Unemployment rate



MAY KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

  • EMPLOYMENT increased to 10,432,400
  • UNEMPLOYMENT decreased to 472,100
  • UNEMPLOYMENT RATE decreased to 4.3%
  • PARTICIPATION RATE remained at 64.9%


SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

EMPLOYMENT
  • increased by 39,400 to 10,453,800. Full-time employment increased by 66,800 to 7,530,000 and part-time employment decreased by 27,400 to 2,923,800.

UNEMPLOYMENT
  • decreased by 11,800 to 463,000. The number of persons looking for full-time work decreased by 1,600 to 325,800 and the number of persons looking for part-time work decreased by 10,200 to 137,200.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
  • decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 4.2%. The male unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point but the rounded estimate remained at 3.9%, and the female unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 4.7%.

PARTICIPATION RATE
  • increased by 0.1 percentage point to 65.0%.


NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE Release Date
June 2007 12 July 2007
July 2007 9 August 2007
August 2007 6 September 2007
September 2007 11 October 2007
October 2007 8 November 2007
November 2007 13 December 2007



ANNUAL REVIEW OF SEASONALITY

In addition to the ongoing monthly revision of seasonal factors, an annual review of seasonality is usually undertaken in February each year. In 2007 the review was delayed to coincide with the introduction of composite estimation, and the outcomes of this review have been incorporated into this release.



ROUNDING

Estimates of monthly change shown on the front cover 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 ERRORS

The estimates in this publication are based on a sample survey. Because the entire population is not enumerated, the published estimates and the movements derived from them are subject to sampling variability. Standard errors give a measure of this variability and appear on pages 28 and 29.


The 95% confidence intervals below provide another way of looking at the variability inherent in estimates from sample surveys. The interval bounded by the two limits is the 95% confidence interval. A 95% confidence interval has a 95% chance of including the true value of the estimate.

Movements in seasonally adjusted series between April and May 2007

Monthly change
95% Confidence interval

Total Employment
39 400
-7 200
to
86 000
Total Unemployment
-11 800
-36 600
to
13 000
Unemployment rate
-0.1 pts
-0.3 pts
to
0.1 pts
Participation rate
0.1 pts
-0.1 pts
to
0.3 pts



INQUIRIES

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