6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Sep 2005  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 13/10/2005   
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SEPTEMBER KEY FIGURES

Aug 2005
Sep 2005
Aug 05 to Sep 05
Sep 04 to Sep 05
Trend
Employed persons ('000)
10 042.6
10 050.4
7.8
3.3
%
Unemployed persons ('000)
531.2
531.1
-0.1
-5.3
%
Unemployment rate (%)
5.0
5.0
0.0
pts
-0.4
pts
Participation rate (%)
64.7
64.7
0.0
pts
1.0
pts
Seasonally Adjusted
Employed persons ('000)
10 065.1
10 022.8
-42.3
2.9
%
Unemployed persons ('000)
530.2
538.7
8.5
-4.0
%
Unemployment rate (%)
5.0
5.1
0.1
pts
-0.4
pts
Participation rate (%)
64.8
64.5
-0.3
pts
0.8
pts

Employed Persons
Graph: Employed Persons

Unemployment rate
Graph: Unemployment rate



SEPTEMBER KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

  • EMPLOYMENT increased to 10,050,400
  • UNEMPLOYMENT decreased to 531,100
  • UNEMPLOYMENT RATE remained at 5.0%
  • PARTICIPATION RATE remained at 64.7%


SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

EMPLOYMENT
  • decreased by 42,300 to 10,022,800. Full-time employment decreased by 25,900 to 7,158,800 and part-time employment decreased by 16,500 to 2,864,000.

UNEMPLOYMENT
  • increased by 8,500 to 538,700. The number of persons looking for full-time work increased by 9,100 to 382,900 while the number of persons looking for part-time work decreased slightly to 155,800.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
  • increased by 0.1 percentage point to 5.1%. Both the male and female unemployment rates increased by 0.1 percentage point, to 5.0% and 5.2% respectively.

PARTICIPATION RATE
  • decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 64.5%.


NOTES

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 ERRORS

The estimates in this publication are based on a sample survey. Because the entire population is not enumerated, the published estimates and the movements derived from them are subject to sampling variability. Standard errors give a measure of this variability and appear on pages 27 and 28.


The 95% confidence intervals below provide another way of looking at the variability inherent in estimates from sample surveys. The interval bounded by the two limits is the 95% confidence interval. A 95% confidence interval has a 95% chance of including the true value of the estimate.

Movements in seasonally adjusted series between August and September 2005
Monthly change
95% Confidence interval
Total Employment
-42 300
-94 100
to
9 500
Total Unemployment
8 500
-19 900
to
36 900
Unemployment rate
0.1 pts
-0.1 pts
to
0.3 pts
Participation rate
-0.3 pts
-0.7 pts
to
0.1 pts


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Rebecca Cash on Canberra (02) 6252 6525.



PRINCIPAL LABOUR FORCE SERIES TREND ESTIMATES


EMPLOYED PERSONS

The trend estimate of employed persons generally rose from 8,303,600 in September 1995 to 9,056,300 in September 2000. The trend then fell slightly to 9,034,500 in January 2001, before rising to 9,455,900 in March 2003. The trend then fell for two months, before rising to stand at a high of 10,050,400 in September 2005.

Graph: Employed Persons (Trend)



UNEMPLOYED PERSONS

The trend estimate of unemployed persons rose from 733,400 in September 1995 to 771,800 in February 1997. The trend then fell to 583,300 in September 2000, before rising to 685,400 in October 2001. The trend has since generally fallen to stand at 531,100 in September 2005.

Graph: Unemployed Persons (Trend)



UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

The trend unemployment rate rose slowly from 8.1% in September 1995 to 8.4% in February 1997, before falling to 6.1% in September 2000. After rising to 7.0% in October 2001, the trend has since generally fallen to stand at 5.0% in September 2005.

Graph: Unemployment Rate (Trend)



UNEMPLOYED PERSONS TREND ESTIMATES


UNEMPLOYED MALES LOOKING FOR FULL-TIME WORK


TOTAL

The trend estimate of unemployed males looking for full-time work remained relatively steady from September 1995 to June 1997, when it stood at 396,400. The trend estimate then fell to 287,800 in June 2000. The trend estimate then rose to 329,900 in October 2001, before generally falling to 221,500 in May 2005. The trend has risen over the last four months to stand at 225,900 in September 2005.

Graph: Unemployed males looking for full-time work (trend)



MALES AGED 15-19 YEARS

After rising slightly from September 1995 to 53,900 in May 1996, the trend estimate of males aged 15 to 19 years looking for full-time work generally fell to 34,000 in July 2000. The trend then rose to 45,500 in September 2001, before generally falling to 34,500 in March 2005. Over the last six months, the trend has risen to stand at 37,500 in September 2005.

Graph: Unemployed males (aged 15-19) looking for full-time work (trend)



MALES AGED 20 YEARS AND OVER

The trend estimate of males aged 20 years and over looking for full-time work remained relatively steady from September 1995 to May 1997, before falling to 253,600 in June 2000. The trend then rose to 284,800 in October 2001, before falling to 186,400 in June 2005. Since then the trend has risen slightly to stand at 188,400 in September 2005.

Graph: Unemployed males (aged 20 & over) looking for full-time work (trend)



UNEMPLOYED FEMALES LOOKING FOR FULL-TIME WORK


TOTAL

The trend estimate of females looking for full-time work generally rose from 208,300 in September 1995 to 223,700 in February 1997. The trend estimate then fell to 152,700 in September 2000, before rising to 188,700 in October 2001. Since then, the trend has generally fallen to stand at 148,500 in September 2005.

Graph: Unemployed females looking for full-time work (trend)



FEMALES AGED 15-19 YEARS

The trend estimate of females aged 15 to 19 years looking for full-time work generally fell from 40,900 in September 1995 to a low of 24,100 in October 2000. The trend then rose to 31,500 in September 2001, before falling to 25,700 in July 2003. The trend then rose to 30,000 in April 2004, before falling to stand at 27,000 in September 2005.

Graph: Unemployed females (aged 15-19) looking for full-time work (trend)



FEMALES AGED 20 YEARS AND OVER

The trend estimate of females aged 20 years and over looking for full-time work rose from 167,400 in September 1995 to 189,000 in April 1997, before generally falling to 128,200 in September 2000. The trend then rose to 157,400 in November 2001. Since then, the trend has generally fallen to stand at 121,600 in September 2005.

Graph: Unemployed females (aged 20 & over) looking for full-time work (trend)