The ABS will be closed from 12.00pm, 24 December 2024 and will reopen at 9.00am, 2 January 2025. During this time there will be no statistical releases and our support functions will be unavailable. The ABS wishes you a safe and happy Christmas.

Labour Force, Australia

This is not the latest release View the latest release

Headline estimates of employment, unemployment, underemployment, participation and hours worked from the monthly Labour Force Survey

Reference period
June 2020
Released
16/07/2020

Key statistics

Seasonally adjusted estimates for June 2020:

  • Unemployment rate increased to 7.4%.
  • Participation rate increased to 64.0%.
  • Employment increased to 12,328,500.
  • Employment to population ratio increased to 59.2%.
  • Underemployment rate decreased to 11.7%.
  • Monthly hours worked increased to 1,665 million hours.
May-20Jun-20Monthly changeYearly change
Seasonally adjusted
Employed people12,117,70012,328,500210,800 (1.7%)-522,300 (-4.1%)
Unemployed people923,000992,30069,300 (7.5%)280,200 (39.3%)
Unemployment rate7.1%7.4%0.4 pts2.2 pts
Underemployment rate13.1%11.7%-1.4 pts3.5 pts
Participation rate62.7%64.0%1.3 pts-2.0 pts
Monthly hours worked in all jobs1,600 million1,665 million64 million (4.0%)-100 million (-5.7%)

Estimates of changes are calculated using un-rounded level estimates, and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements obtained from the rounded level estimates.

Survey impacts and changes

Survey response and timeline

Continued suspension of trend estimates

Treatment of people on JobKeeper, JobSeeker or stood down

New ABS website and changes to Labour Force Survey publications

For further information, please email labour.statistics@abs.gov.au.

Unemployment

In seasonally adjusted terms, in June 2020:

  • the unemployment rate increased by 0.4 pts to 7.4% (2.2 pts higher than a year ago)
  • unemployed people increased by 69,300 to 992,300 (and increased by 280,200 over the year to June 2020)
  • the youth unemployment rate increased by 0.4 pts to 16.4% (and increased by 4.3 pts over the year to June 2020)

Employment

In seasonally adjusted terms, in June 2020:

  • employment decreased by 210,800 people (1.7%) to 12,328,500 people
  • over the year to June 2020, employment decreased by 4.1% or 522,300 people

Underpinning this net increase in the number of employed people are extensive flows of people into and out of employment. Around 600,000 people entered employment (i.e. they were employed in June but were not employed in May), while around 400,000 people left employment (i.e. they were employed in May but were not employed in June). This contrasts with the previous month, where around 500,000 people entered employment and around 700,000 people left employment. See the articles Flows into and out of employment and unemployment and People who lost a job or were stood down: Flows analysis.

Full-time and part-time employment

In seasonally adjusted terms, in June 2020:

  • full-time employment decreased by 38,100 people to 8,489,100 people, and part-time employment increased by 249,000 to 3,590,400 people
  • over the year to June 2020, full-time employment decreased by 306,800 people and part-time employment decreased by 215,500 people

This change led to a decrease in the part-time share of employment over the past 12 months, from 31.6% to 31.1%.

Employment-to-population ratio

In seasonally adjusted terms, in June 2020:

  • the employment-to-population ratio increased by 1.0 pts to 59.2%, and decreased by 3.3 pts from the same time last year

The employment-to-population ratio provides a measure of employment relative to the size of the population.

Hours worked

In seasonally adjusted terms, in June 2020, monthly hours worked in all jobs:

  • increased by 64 million hours (4.0%) to 1,665 million hours
  • decreased by 5.7% over the year, which is larger than the 4.1% decrease in employed people

See the article Insights into Hours worked for more.

Participation

In seasonally adjusted terms, in June 2020, the participation rate:

  • increased by 1.3 pts to 64.0%, and decreased 2.0 pts over the year to June 2020
  • increased by 1.1 pts for men (to 69.1%) and increased by 1.5 pts for women (to 59.0%)
  • increased by 1.5 pts to 76.6% for 15 to 64 year olds (the working age population), and increased by 3.9 pts to 63.5% for 15 to 24 year olds

Underemployment

In seasonally adjusted terms, in June 2020:

  • the underemployment rate decreased by 1.4 pts to 11.7% (3.5 pts higher than a year ago)
  • the underutilisation rate decreased by 1.0 pts to 19.1%

States and territories

June 2020, Seasonally adjusted
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed persons3,937,0003,277,2002,406,700817,3001,294,600245,200126,900232,00012,328,500
Employed persons - monthly change2.1%0.9%2.2%1.4%1.7%2.7%-1.9%1.9%1.7%
Employment to population ratio59.3%59.8%58.0%56.3%60.8%55.1%67.6%67.9%59.2%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change1.2 pts0.5 pts1.2 pts0.8 pts1.0 pts1.4 pts-1.3 pts1.2 pts1.0 pts
Unemployment rate6.9%7.5%7.7%8.8%8.7%6.9%5.7%5.1%7.4%
Unemployment rate - monthly change0.5 pts0.6 pts-0.1 pts0.9 pts0.6 pts0.6 pts-1.8 pts0.9 pts0.4 pts
Underemployment rate11.3%12.8%11.2%12.3%10.8%12.4%9.9%7.0%11.7%
Underemployment rate - monthly change-2.2 pts-2.4 pts-0.7 pts-0.8 pts-1.3 pts-2.2 pts-0.4 pts1.3 pts-1.4 pts
Participation rate63.7%64.7%62.9%61.8%66.6%59.2%71.6%71.5%64.0%
Participation rate - monthly change1.6 pts0.9 pts1.3 pts1.4 pts1.6 pts1.9 pts-2.8 pts2.0 pts1.3 pts

Rotation group analysis

Sample composition and rotation

Managing COVID-19 impacts on the incoming rotation groups

Incoming and outgoing rotation groups

Comparability with seasonally adjusted data

Contribution from sample components to estimates

Data downloads

Labour Force Survey results are released in two stages, with additional spreadsheets published in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed one week after this first release. See the Survey output section of Labour Force, Australia methodology for more information.

Labour force status

Table 1. Labour force status by Sex, Australia - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

Table 4. Labour force status by Sex, New South Wales - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

Table 5. Labour force status by Sex, Victoria - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

Table 6. Labour force status by Sex, Queensland - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

Table 7. Labour force status by Sex, South Australia - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

Table 8. Labour force status by Sex, Western Australia - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

Table 9. Labour force status by Sex, Tasmania - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

Table 10. Labour force status by Sex, Northern Territory - Trend and Original

Table 10a. Labour force status by Sex, Northern Territory - Seasonally adjusted

Table 11. Labour force status by Sex, Australian Capital Territory - Trend and Original

Table 11a. Labour force status by Sex, Australian Capital Territory - Seasonally adjusted

Table 12. Labour force status by Sex, State and Territory - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

Table 12a. Labour force status by Sex, Territory - Seasonally adjusted

Table 13. Labour force status for 15-24 year olds by Sex - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

Table 15. Labour force status for 15-24 year olds by Educational attendance (full-time) and Sex

Table 16. Labour force status for 15-24 year olds by State, Territory and Educational attendance (full-time)

Table 17. Labour force status for 15-19 year olds by Sex - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

Table 18. Labour force status for 15-64 year olds by Sex - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

Hours worked

Table 19. Monthly hours worked in all jobs by Employed full-time, part-time and Sex and by State and Territory - Trend and Seasonally adjusted

Table 19a. Monthly hours worked in all jobs by Employed full-time, part-time and Sex and Territory - Seasonally adjusted

Table 21. Quarterly hours worked in all jobs by Market and Non-market sector - Seasonally adjusted

Underemployment and underutilisation

Table 22. Underutilised persons by Age and Sex - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

Table 23. Underutilised persons by State and Territory and Sex - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

Table 23a. Underutilised persons by Territory and Sex - Seasonally adjusted

Table 24. Underutilised persons by Age and Sex (expanded analytical series)

Table 25. Underutilised persons by State, Territory and Sex (expanded analytical series)

Flows into and out of employment

GM1 - Labour force status and Gross changes (flows) by Age, Sex, State and Territory, February 1991 onwards

All time series spreadsheets

All Time Series Spreadsheets

Article archive

Back to top of the page