NOVEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Oct 2012	Nov 2012	Oct 12 to Nov 12		Nov 11 to Nov 12
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 529.4	11 535.2	5.8		1.0	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	647.8	648.5	0.7		3.6	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.3	5.3	0.0	pts	0.1	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.1	65.1	0.0	pts	-0.3	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 532.5	11 546.4	13.9		1.1	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	653.6	637.4	-16.3		1.4	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.4	5.2	-0.1	pts	0.0	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.2	65.1	-0.1	pts	-0.4	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

NOVEMBER KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased to 11,535,200.
• Unemployment increased to 648,500 from a revised October 2012 estimate.
• Unemployment rate steady at 5.3% from a revised October 2012 estimate.
• Participation rate steady at 65.1%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased to 1,622.0 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 13,900 (0.1%) to 11,546,400. Full-time employment decreased 4,200 to 8,132,200 and part-time employment increased 18,100 to 3,414,200.
• Unemployment decreased 16,300 (2.5%) to 637,400. The number of persons looking for full-time work decreased 8,500 to 461,800 and the number of persons looking for part-time work decreased 7,800 to 175,500.
• The unemployment rate decreased to 5.2%, a decrease of 0.1 pts based on unrounded estimates.
• The participation rate decreased 0.1 pts to 65.1%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 1.3 million hours to 1,622.0 million hours.

LABOUR UNDERUTILISATION (QUARTERLY CHANGE)

• Trend estimates: The labour force underutilisation rate was steady at 12.5%.
• Seasonally adjusted estimates: The labour force underutilisation rate increased 0.2 pts to 12.5%. The male labour force underutilisation rate increased 0.1 pts to 10.7%. The female labour force underutilisation rate increased 0.2 pts to 14.7%.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
December 2012	17 January 2013
January 2013	7 February 2013
February 2013	14 March 2013
March 2013	11 April 2013
April 2013	9 May 2013
May 2013	13 June 2013

REBENCHMARKING OF LABOUR FORCE SERIES

Labour Force estimates from July 2008 to October 2012 have been revised to align the labour force population benchmarks with the latest available information on population growth. These estimates use the 2006 Census base for the population benchmarks.

Details of further rebenchmarking of the Labour Force estimates, including the 2011 Census-based rebenchmarking, are included in the feature article Rebenchmarking of Labour Force Series in this publication.


ELECTRONIC COLLECTION OF LABOUR FORCE DATA

The ABS will commence a trial of on-line electronic data collection of labour force data from households in December 2012. The trial will be conducted on one rotation group of the Labour Force Survey (i.e. one-eighth of the survey sample). As part of this trial, respondents in this rotation group will be offered the option of completing their labour force survey questionnaire on-line instead of a face-to-face or telephone interview. Information about the trial will be included in the December 2012 issue of this publication, due for release on 17 January 2013. The trial will continue for a number of months prior to a decision on rolling out an electronic collection option progressively to the full sample of the Labour Force Survey.


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. 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 OCTOBER 2012 AND NOVEMBER 2012
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	13 900	-41 100	to	68 900
Total Unemployment	-16 300	-47 900	to	15 300
Unemployment rate	-0.1 pts	-0.3 pts	to	0.1 pts
Participation rate	-0.1 pts	-0.5 pts	to	0.3 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\>.