Labour Force, Australia

Latest release

Headline estimates of employment, unemployment, underemployment, participation and hours worked from the monthly Labour Force Survey

Reference period
February 2025
Released
20/03/2025
  • Next Release 17/04/2025
    Labour Force, Australia, March 2025
  • Next Release 15/05/2025
    Labour Force, Australia, April 2025
  • Next Release 19/06/2025
    Labour Force, Australia, May 2025
  • View all releases

Key statistics

In trend terms, in February 2025:

  • unemployment rate remained at 4.0%.
  • participation rate remained at 67.0%.
  • employment increased to 14,547,800.
  • employment to population ratio decreased to 64.2%.
  • underemployment remained at 5.9%.
  • monthly hours worked increased to 1,980 million.

In seasonally adjusted terms, in February 2025:

  • unemployment rate remained at 4.1%.
  • participation rate decreased to 66.8%.
  • employment decreased to 14,513,200.
  • employment to population ratio decreased to 64.1%.
  • underemployment rate decreased to 5.9%.
  • monthly hours worked decreased to 1,973 million.
  • full-time employment decreased by 35,700 to 10,007,300 people.
  • part-time employment decreased by 17,000 to 4,505,900 people.
Key statistics - Trend
Jan-25Feb-25Monthly changeMonthly change (%)Yearly changeYearly change (%)
Employed people14,532,60014,547,80015,2000.1%340,0002.4%
Unemployed people612,000613,9001,9000.3%31,4005.4%
Unemployment rate4.0%4.0%0.0 ptsna0.1 ptsna
Underemployment rate5.9%5.9%0.0 ptsna-0.7 ptsna
Participation rate67.0%67.0%0.0 ptsna0.3 ptsna
Monthly hours worked in all jobs1,976 million1,980 million4 million0.2%54 million2.8%
Key statistics - Seasonally adjusted
Jan-25Feb-25Monthly changeMonthly change (%)Yearly changeYearly change (%)
Employed people14,566,00014,513,200-52,800-0.4%266,2001.9%
Unemployed people623,800612,600-11,200-1.8%61,30011.1%
Unemployment rate4.1%4.1%-0.1 ptsna0.3 ptsna
Underemployment rate6.0%5.9%-0.1 ptsna-0.7 ptsna
Participation rate67.2%66.8%-0.4 ptsna0.1 ptsna
Monthly hours worked in all jobs1,981 million1,973 million-8 million-0.4%46 million2.4%

Estimates of changes throughout this release are calculated using un-rounded level estimates and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements obtained from the rounded level estimates.

For definitions of labour statistics used in this publication, please refer to Glossary of Labour Force, Australia methodology.

Survey impacts and changes

Assessing and managing the impacts of natural disasters on Labour Force Statistics

Survey response and timeline

Release of Labour Force Survey TableBuilder product

The ABS has recently released Labour Force Survey data into TableBuilder. Data from August 2006 to July 2024 is currently available, with the intention to move to more concurrent and frequent releases of data later this year. 

The TableBuilder product will allow users to create custom tables on a wide range of Labour Force Survey data, usually only available in set products in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed. This new product will be in addition to the existing Labour Force Supplementary Survey datasets currently available in TableBuilder (e.g. Characteristics of Employment).

New TableBuilder users will need to register to gain access. Existing TableBuilder users can request access to the dataset by contacting microdata.access@abs.gov.au.

Further information about this product, as well as other Labour Force Survey outputs, can be found in the new Labour Force Survey products and data item guide.

This release is one of many planned improvements to how users can access and interact with an expanded range of labour statistics products, as part of an investment to address priority labour market data gaps. Further information on this work can be found in Labour statistics recent and upcoming developments.

Article

The ABS has included Spotlight: Changes in participation rates for men and women in Australia to provide further context around trends in the participation rate and given interest in the ABS providing insights into these statistics. 

For a list of previously published LFS articles, see the Article archive.

Unemployment

In trend terms, in February 2025:

  • unemployment rate remained at 4.0%.
  • unemployed people increased by 1,900 to 613,900.
  • youth unemployment rate remained at 9.0%.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, February 2025

Employment

In trend terms, in February 2025, employment increased by 15,200 people (0.1%) to 14,547,800 people. 

Flows into and out of employment

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, February 2025.

Full-time and part-time employment

In trend terms, in February 2025:

  • full-time employment increased by 6,400 to 10,031,300 people, and part-time employment increased by 8,800 to 4,516,500 people.
  • part-time share of employment was 31.0%.

 

Employment-to-population ratio

In trend terms, in February 2025, the employment-to-population ratio decreased to 64.2%.

The employment-to-population ratio provides a measure of employment relative to the size of the population.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, February 2025.

Hours worked

In trend terms, in February 2025, monthly hours worked in all jobs increased by 3.9 million hours (0.2%) to 1,980 million hours.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, February 2025.

Participation

In trend terms, in February 2025, the participation rate:

  • remained at 67.0%.
  • remained at 71.1% for men and 63.0% for women.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, February 2025.

Underemployment

In trend terms, in February 2025:

  • underemployment rate remained at 5.9%.
  • underutilisation rate decreased to 9.9%.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, February 2025.

States and Territories

February 2025 - Trend
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed people4,497,2003,777,0002,978,400959,0001,643,300280,600139,900272,20014,547,800
Employed people - monthly change0.1%0.0%0.0%0.2%0.4%0.1%0.5%0.0%0.1%
Employment to population ratio63.7%64.6%64.3%60.8%66.7%57.8%69.7%69.9%64.2%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change0.0 pts-0.2 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts0.3 pts-0.1 pts-0.1 pts
Unemployment rate4.0%4.6%3.9%4.0%3.5%4.0%4.3%3.0%4.0%
Unemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts
Underemployment rate5.7%6.1%6.2%6.3%5.6%7.7%3.7%4.4%5.9%
Underemployment rate - monthly change-0.1 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts-0.2 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts
Participation rate66.3%67.8%67.0%63.3%69.1%60.2%72.9%72.1%67.0%
Participation rate - monthly change0.0 pts-0.1 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts0.3 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts
February 2025 - Seasonally adjusted
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed people4,477,6003,767,9002,961,700959,2001,643,500279,000139,800271,20014,513,200
Employed people - monthly change-0.5%-0.3%-0.8%-1.2%0.3%-3.0%0.2%-0.9%-0.4%
Employment to population ratio63.4%64.4%64.0%60.8%66.7%57.5%69.7%69.6%64.1%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change-0.4 pts-0.3 pts-0.6 pts-0.8 pts0.0 pts-1.8 pts0.1 pts-0.8 pts-0.4 pts
Unemployment rate4.0%4.6%4.1%3.7%3.4%4.0%4.3%2.6%4.1%
Unemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts-0.4 pts-0.2 pts0.4 pts-0.2 pts-0.6 pts-0.1 pts
Underemployment rate5.7%6.1%6.2%6.2%5.6%7.6%3.5%4.4%5.9%
Underemployment rate - monthly change-0.2 pts0.2 pts-0.2 pts-0.4 pts-0.1 pts-0.3 pts-1.6 pts-0.9 pts-0.1 pts
Participation rate66.1%67.6%66.7%63.2%69.1%59.9%72.8%71.4%66.8%
Participation rate - monthly change-0.5 pts-0.4 pts-0.6 pts-1.1 pts-0.1 pts-1.6 pts-0.1 pts-1.2 pts-0.4 pts

Historical charts

Historical charts for employed, unemployed, unemployment rate and participation rate from August 1966 to February 2025

Rotation group analysis

Sample composition and rotation

Estimates for the incoming and outgoing rotation groups

States and Territories

Comparability with seasonally adjusted and trend data

Contribution from sample components to estimates

Data downloads

Labour Force Survey results are released in three stages.

  1. Spreadsheets of the headline indicators are published in this release
  2. Additional, more detailed spreadsheets and pivot tables are published in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed one week after this first release
  3. Longitudinal labour force microdata are released in the ABS DataLab on a monthly basis, one day after the detailed release (see Microdata: Longitudinal Labour Force, Australia)

See the Survey output section of Labour Force, Australia methodology for more information.

Labour Force status

Data files

The Labour Account is the best source of quarterly data for the market and non-market sectors. For information, see Industry employment guide.

The ABS is currently reviewing the usefulness of the market and non-market sector data in Table 21 of the headline Labour Force release.

Hours worked

Data files

Underemployment and underutilisation

Data files

Flows into and out of employment

GM1 - Labour force status and Gross changes (flows) by Age, Sex, State and Territory, January 2006 to February 2025

GM1 - Labour force status and Gross changes (flows) by Age, Sex, State and Territory, Historical (from February 1991)

All time series spreadsheets

All time series spreadsheets

Data Explorer datasets

Caution: Data in the Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the time period when using Data Explorer.

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data Explorer user guide.

Labour Force status by Sex, State and Territory - Number of people employed, unemployed and not in the labour force, monthly, February 1978 and onwards.

Labour Force monthly hours worked by Sex, State and Territory - Monthly hours worked by employed people, monthly, July 1978 and onwards.

Labour Force status by Age Groups - Number of people employed, unemployed and not in the labour force, monthly, February 1978 and onwards.

Labour Force Educational Attendance - Educational attendance (Full Time) for 15-24 year olds by State, Territory and Sex, monthly, April 1986 and onwards.

Article archive

Employment and jobs

Unemployment and underemployment

Hours worked

Methodology

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6202.0.

Back to top of the page