FEBRUARY KEY FIGURES

		Jan 2013	Feb 2013	Jan 13 to Feb 13		Feb 12 to Feb 13
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 572.8	11 588.7	15.9		1.2	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	658.2	660.0	1.8		6.4	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.4	5.4	0.0	pts	0.2	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.1	65.1	0.0	pts	-0.1	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 556.8	11 628.3	71.5		1.7	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	659.6	660.0	0.4		5.1	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.4	5.4	0.0	pts	0.2	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.0	65.3	0.3	pts	0.1	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

FEBRUARY KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased to 11,588,700.
• Unemployment increased to 660,000.
• Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.4%.
• Participation rate steady at 65.1% from a revised January 2013 estimate.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased to 1,627.3 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 71,500 (0.6%) to 11,628,300. Full-time employment increased 17,800 to 8,117,400 and part-time employment increased 53,700 to 3,510,800.
• Unemployment increased 400 (0.1%) to 660,000. The number of persons looking for full-time work increased 200 to 470,300 and the number of persons looking for part-time work increased 200 to 189,700.
• The unemployment rate remained steady at 5.4%.
• The participation rate increased 0.3 pts to 65.3%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 11.3 million hours to 1,632.8 million hours.

LABOUR UNDERUTILISATION (QUARTERLY CHANGE)

• Trend estimates: The labour force underutilisation rate remained steady at 12.5%.
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: The labour force underutilisation rate remained steady at 12.5 %. The male labour force underutilisation rate increased 0.1 pts to 10.8%. The female labour force underutilisation rate decreased 0.1 pts to 14.6%.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
March 2013	11 April 2013
April 2013	9 May 2013
May 2013	13 June 2013
June 2013	11 July 2013
July 2013	8 August 2013
August 2013	12 September 2013

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - FEATURE ARTICLE ON JOBS

A feature article estimating the number of jobs in the economy and comparing it with the number of people employed will be published on Thursday 21 March attached to this catalogue number and issue. This article will also be available from Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - Electronic Delivery, February 2013 (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001).


ROUNDING

Estimates of monthly changes 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. Published estimates and the movements derived from them are subject to sampling variability. Standard errors give a measure of sampling variability (see pages 35 and 36). 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 JANUARY 2013 AND FEBRUARY 2013
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	71 500	16 500	to	126 500
Total Unemployment	400	-34 200	to	35 000
Unemployment rate	0.0 pts	-0.2 pts	to	0.2 pts
Participation rate	0.3pts	-0.1 pts	to	0.7 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 Labour Force on Canberra (02) 6252 6525, email labourforce@abs.gov.au\>.