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LABOUR FORCE STATUS
FEBRUARY KEY FIGURES, Western Australia |
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 | Feb 2010 | Jan 2010 | Feb 2009 |
Trend |
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| Employed Persons ('000) | 1 178.5 | 1 175.2 | 1 168.0 |
| Unemployment Rate (%) | 5.0 | 5.0 | 4.1 |
| Participation Rate (%) | 68.3 | 68.3 | 69.1 |
Seasonally Adjusted |
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| Employed Persons ('000) | 1 181.1 | 1 175.0 | 1 165.0 |
| Unemployment Rate (%) | 5.0 | 5.0 | 4.2 |
| Participation Rate (%) | 68.4 | 68.2 | 69.0 |
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| Source: Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0). |
- Western Australia's unemployment was unchanged from January to February 2010, remaining at 5.0% in both trend and seasonally adjusted terms and below the national figure of 5.3%.
- Between October 2008 and July 2009, Western Australia's trend unemployment rate increased from 2.7% to 5.4% as the impact of the GFC took effect. The labour force is now showing slow signs of recovery, with unemployment falling, or remaining steady, for each of the seven months to February 2010.
- For about five years from September 2003, unemployment rates remained lower for Western Australian males than for females, largely as a consequence of the male-dominated resources boom. With the advent of the economic downturn in late 2008 and associated job losses in mining and mining support activities, the gap between the sexes in unemployment levels diminished, briefly reaching parity in June and July 2009. However, the gap has again widened, with 4.6% of males in the labour force being unemployed compared with 5.4% of females (trend) in February 2010.
- The total number of employed persons in Western Australia increased in February 2010 by about 3,300 in trend and 6,100 in seasonally adjusted terms. This was the first month in which the total number of employed persons surpassed the previous high of about 1.18 million (trend) in October 2008 before the GFC took effect.
This link provides access to labour force data (1978 to 2009, All Series) from Labour Force, Australia, Spreadsheets (cat. no 6202.0). Table 8 is one of several tables containing data for Western Australia.
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