JULY KEY FIGURES

		Jun 2012	Jul 2012	Jun 12 to Jul 12		Jul 11 to Jul 12
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 513.5	11 517.5	4.0		0.7	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	628.4	631.7	3.3		2.3	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.2	5.2	0.0	pts	0.1	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.3	65.3	0.0	pts	-0.3	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 498.6	11 512.6	14.0		0.6	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	637.6	635.1	-2.5		2.5	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.3	5.2	0.0	pts	0.1	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.3	65.2	0.0	pts	-0.4	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

JULY KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased to 11,517,500.
• Unemployment increased to 631,700.
• Unemployment rate steady at 5.2%.
• Participation rate steady at 65.3%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked decreased to 1,626.0 million hours from a revised June 2012 estimate.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 14,000 (0.1%) to 11,512,600. Full-time employment increased 9,200 to 8,073,700 and part-time employment increased 4,800 to 3,439,000.
• Unemployment decreased 2,500 (0.4%) to 635,100. The number of persons looking for full-time work increased 14,600 to 457,600 and the number of persons looking for part-time work decreased 17,100 to 177,500.
• The unemployment rate at 5.2%. The male unemployment rate increased 0.2 pts to 5.2% and the female unemployment rate decreased 0.3 pts to 5.3%.
• The participation rate at 65.2%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 13.4 million hours to 1,625.1 million hours from a revised June 2012 estimate.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
August 2012	6 September 2012
September 2012	11 October 2012
October 2012	8 November 2012
November 2012	6 December 2012
December 2012	17 January 2013
January 2013	7 February 2013

REBENCHMARKING OF LABOUR FORCE SERIES

Information included in the Labour Force publication is based on high quality sources and methods. To maintain this level of quality, the ABS regularly reviews the performance of current sources and methods and makes improvements where appropriate. In order to better reflect recent trends in population growth, the ABS has decided to rebenchmark Labour Force estimates in the November 2012 issue, scheduled for release on Thursday 6 December 2012. The rebenchmarking would align the Labour Force population benchmarks with the latest available information on population growth (based on estimated resident population), but would maintain the 2006 Census base for the population benchmarks.

The rebenchmarking will align the Labour Force population benchmarks with the latest available final data on population growth, based on 2006 Census-based estimated resident population. As announced in last month's issue, in mid 2013 the ABS will recalculate the labour force estimates in line with the final 2011 Census-based estimated resident population. The current 2011 Census-based population estimates are preliminary and subject to revision.

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. Published estimates and the movements derived from them are subject to sampling variability. Standard errors give a measure of sampling variability (see pages 34 and 35). 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 JUNE 2012 AND JULY 2012
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	14 000	-40 800	to	68 800
Total Unemployment	-2 500	-33 500	to	28 500
Unemployment rate	0.0 pts	-0.2 pts	to	0.2 pts
Participation rate	0.0 pts	-0.4 pts	to	0.4 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\>.