SEPTEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Aug 2015	Sep 2015	Aug 15 to Sep 15	Sep 14 to Sep 15
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 763.4	11 775.8	12.4	2.0 %
	Unemployed persons ('000)	776.8	780.6	3.9	2.1 %
	Unemployment rate (%)	6.2	6.2	0.0 pts	0.0 pts
	Participation rate (%)	64.9	65.0	0.0 pts	0.4 pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 774.9	11 769.9	-5.1	2.0 %
	Unemployed persons ('000)	780.7	772.5	-8.1	1.0 %
	Unemployment rate (%)	6.2	6.2	-0.1 pts	-0.1 pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.0	64.9	-0.2 pts	0.3 pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

SEPTEMBER KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased to 11,775,800.
• Unemployment increased to 780,600.
• Unemployment rate remained steady at 6.2%.
• Participation rate increased less than 0.1 pts to 65.0%.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 1.8 million hours to 1,631.9 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment decreased 5,100 to 11,769,900. Full-time employment decreased 13,900 to 8,124,400 and part-time employment increased 8,900 to 3,645,500.
• Unemployment decreased 8,100 to 772,500. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 6,000 to 556,100 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work decreased 2,200 to 216,500.
• Unemployment rate remained at 6.2%, but decreased 0.1 pts based on unrounded estimates.
• Participation rate decreased to 64.9%, a 0.2 pts decrease based on unrounded estimates.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 12.2 million hours (0.7%) to 1,638.0 million hours.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
October 2015	12 November 2015
November 2015	10 December 2015
December 2015	14 January 2016
January 2016	18 February 2016
February 2016	17 March 2016
March 2016	14 April 2016

WHAT'S NEW IN THE LABOUR FORCE

For details on changes from the January 2016 issue to release timing of Labour Force products, refer to What's new in the Labour Force on page 6.


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 AUGUST 2015 AND SEPTEMBER 2015
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	-5 100	-63 100	to	52 900
Total Unemployment	-8 100	-46 500	to	30 300
Unemployment rate	-0.1 pts	-0.5 pts	to	0.3 pts
Participation rate	-0.2 pts	-0.6 pts	to	0.2 pts

INQUIRIES

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