LABOUR FORCE


CONTENTS

Employed persons

Unemployment

Participation rate


EMPLOYED PERSONS

In trend terms, the total number of persons employed in South Australia has shown little change throughout most of 2009. A series of small consecutive increases over the last four months has seen the December estimate reach 794,800 which is 0.5% higher than the estimate for January 2009. The total number of persons employed in Australia in December 2009 was 10,884,300, an increase of 22,300 on the number employed in November 2009 (10,862,000).

The number of males employed full-time in South Australia in December 2009 was 349,400 (in trend terms), a 0.5% increase from the previous month (347,500). Looking at the composition of all male employees, those working full-time accounted for 81.0% of the male workforce, down from 84.5% in December 2008. After peaking at 185,600 in May 2009, the number of females employed full-time in South Australia has fallen to 179,200 in December 2009. Full-time female employees accounted for 49.3% of the female workforce in December 2009, down from 49.5% in December of the previous year.


UNEMPLOYMENT

The trend estimate unemployment rates for both South Australia and Australia fell marginally in December 2009 to 5.4% and 5.6% respectively. South Australia's rate has been lower than the national rate since May 2009.

The trend unemployment rates for males in South Australia and Australia fell in December 2009 to be 5.5% and 5.7% respectively. Following a period of sharp decline in the first half of 2009 where the estimate fell from 5.7% to 4.9%, the trend unemployment rate for South Australian females has been increasing with an estimate of 5.3% recorded in December 2009. The national unemployment rate for females (in trend terms) rose during the first half of 2009 but has been flat in the second half of the year and was 5.5% in December 2009.

PARTICIPATION RATE

Following six months of decline from March 2009, the trend estimate of the participation rate for South Australia has stabilised and was 63.1% in December 2009. Australia's trend participation rate has also steadied and remained at 65.2% in December 2009.

In South Australia, the participation rate for males rose for the sixth consecutive month to be 69.9% in December 2009. After holding steady for 5 months, the Australian participation rate for males rose slightly to 72.2%. In contrast to the movement in the male series, the participation rate for South Australian females has fallen for the seventh consecutive month. From a peak of 57.9% in April and May 2009, the estimate has fallen to 56.5% in December. The Australian female participation rate remained steady at 58.5% in December 2009.