6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, May 2010 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 10/06/2010   
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MAY KEY FIGURES

Apr 2010
May 2010
Apr 10 to
May 10
May 09
to May 10
Trend
Employed persons ('000)
11 026.2
11 044.6
18.4
2.5
%
Unemployed persons ('000)
612.1
610.4
-1.7
-6.6
%
Unemployment rate (%)
5.3
5.2
0.0
pts
-0.5
pts
Participation rate (%)
65.2
65.1
0.0
pts
-0.2
pts
Seasonally Adjusted
Employed persons ('000)
11 029.7
11 056.7
26.9
2.6
%
Unemployed persons ('000)
626.2
600.9
-25.4
-8.6
%
Unemployment rate (%)
5.4
5.2
-0.2
pts
-0.6
pts
Participation rate (%)
65.2
65.1
-0.2
pts
-0.3
pts

Employed Persons
Graph: Employed Persons

Unemployment rate
Graph: Unemployment rate




MAY KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)
  • Employment increased to 11,044,600
  • Unemployment decreased to 610,400
  • Unemployment rate at 5.2%
  • Participation rate at 65.1%
  • Aggregate monthly hours worked increased to 1,553.2 million hours


SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)
  • Employment increased 26,900 (0.2%) to 11,056,700. Full-time employment increased 36,400 to 7,779,700 and part-time employment decreased 9,400 to 3,277,000.
  • Unemployment decreased 25,400 (-4.1%) to 600,900. The number of persons looking for full-time work decreased 12,000 to 437,700 and the number of persons looking for part-time work decreased 13,400 to 163,100.
  • Unemployment rate decreased 0.2 pts to 5.2%. The male unemployment rate decreased 0.3 pts to 5.0% and the female unemployment rate decreased 0.2 pts to 5.3%.
  • Participation rate decreased 0.2 pts to 65.1%.
  • Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 43.9 million hours (2.9%) to 1,574.5 million hours.


LABOUR UNDERUTILISATION (QUARTERLY CHANGE)
  • Trend estimates: Labour Force underutilisation rate decreased 0.5 pts to 12.3%
  • Seasonally adjusted estimates: Labour Force underutilisation rate decreased 0.5 pts to 12.2%. The male labour force underutilisation rate decreased 0.6 pts to 10.4% and the female labour force underutilisation rate decreased 0.4 pts to 14.4%.


NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE Release Date
June 2010 8 July 2010
July 2010 12 August 2010
August 2010 9 September 2010
September 2010 7 October 2010
October 2010 11 November 2010
November 2010 9 December 2010



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 ERROR

The estimates in this publication are based on a sample survey. Therefore, published estimates and the movements derived from them are subject to sampling variability. Standard errors give a measure of this variability, see pages 33 and 34. The interval bounded by two standard errors is the 95% confidence interval, which provides a way of looking at the variability inherent in estimates. This represents a 95% chance that the true value of the estimate lies within that interval.

Movements in seasonally adjusted series between April 2010 and May 2010
Monthly change
95% Confidence interval
Total Employment
26 900
-26 700
to
80 500
Total Unemployment
-25 400
-57 400
to
6 600
Unemployment rate
-0.2 pts
-0.4 pts
to
0.0 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 Steve Wood on Canberra (02) 6252 6525, email labourforce@abs.gov.au.