LABOUR FORCE


CONTENTS

Employed persons

Unemployment

Participation rate


EMPLOYED PERSONS

In trend terms, the total number of persons employed in South Australia has remained relatively stable since the beginning of the year with 802,100 persons employed in May 2010. This represents an increase of 1.1% over the estimate recorded in May 2009 with most of the growth occuring between August and December 2009. Nationally a total of 11,044,600 persons were employed in May 2010; an increase of 2.5% over the corresponding month of the previous year.

The number of males employed full-time in South Australia in May 2010 was 355,900 (in trend terms); a slight increase (0.1%) from the previous month (355,700). Looking at the composition of all male employees, those working full-time accounted for 81.9% of the male workforce, down from 83.1% in May 2009. The number of females employed full-time increased slightly to be 184,900 in May 2010. After seven consecutive increases, the estimate is now only slightly (0.2%) below the peak recorded in May 2009 (185,300). At that time full-time female employees accounted for 49.8% of the female workforce. In May 2010, this proportion had increased 50.3%.


UNEMPLOYMENT

After falling from 5.6% to 5.0% between September 2009 and January 2010, the unemployment rate for South Australia (in trend terms) has risen for the last four months and was 5.3% in May 2010. Australian unemployment fell to 5.2% in May 2010, dipping below the South Australian estimate for the first time since March 2009.

Since recording a low of 4.9% in January and February 2010, the trend unemployment rate for males in South Australia has been on the rise, climbing to 5.2% in May 2010. This remains lower than the female unemployment rate for the sixth consecutive month. The trend unemployment rate for South Australian females has been steadily increasing since mid 2009 and was 5.4% in May 2010.

Nationally the trend unemployment rates for males and females in May 2010 was 5.2% and 5.3% respectively.

PARTICIPATION RATE

The trend estimate of the participation rate for South Australia has shown little movement over recent months and was 63.1% in May 2010. Similarly, Australia's trend participation rate has also remained relatively steady over the same period and was 65.1% in May.

In

South Australia, the participation rate for males has fallen slightly over the last three months to be 69.8% in May 2010. The Australian participation rate for males fell slightly to 72.1% in May 2010, after showing little change over the previous seven months. From a peak of 57.9% in April and May 2009, the participation rate for South Australian females fell to 56.7% in December 2009. After holding steady at this level for the first quarter of 2010, female particpation has risen slightly to be 56.8% in May 2010. The Australian female participation rate remained steady at 58.3% in May 2010.