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Labour Force, Australia

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

Reference period
March 2020
Released
16/04/2020

Key statistics

Trend estimates for March 2020:

  • Unemployment rate remained at 5.2%.
  • Participation rate remained at 66.0%.
  • Employment increased to 13,020,500.
  • Employment to population ratio remained at 62.6%.
  • Underemployment rate increased to 8.7%.
  • Monthly hours worked increased to 1,782 million hours.
Feb 20Mar 20Monthly changeYearly change
Trend
Employed people13,003,70013,020,50016,8001.8%
Unemployed people709,800713,3003,5004.0%
Unemployment rate5.2%5.2%0.0 pts0.1 pts
Underemployment rate8.6%8.7%0.1 pts0.4 pts
Participation rate66.0%66.0%0.0 pts0.2 pts
Monthly hours worked in all jobs1,781 million1,782 million0 million0.8%
Seasonally adjusted
Employed people13,011,70013,017,6005,9001.8%
Unemployed people698,400718,60020,3004.8%
Unemployment rate5.1%5.2%0.1 pts0.1 pts
Underemployment rate8.7%8.8%0.1 pts0.6 pts
Participation rate66.0%66.0%0.0 pts0.3 pts
Monthly hours worked in all jobs1,776 million1,785 million9 million0.7%

Managing the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on labour force statistics

Impacts of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on trend estimation and seasonal adjustment in the Labour Force Survey

Additional labour market data to be published during COVID-19 pandemic

Managing the impact of the bushfires on labour force statistics

All data are trend unless otherwise stated. The trend series smooths the more volatile seasonally adjusted estimates and provides the best measure of the underlying behaviour of the labour market.

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.

Unemployment

In March 2020: 

  • the unemployment rate remained steady at 5.2% (0.1 pts higher than a year ago)
  • unemployed people decreased by 3,500 to 713,300 (and increased by 27,300 over the year to March 2020)
  • the youth unemployment rate (i.e. for those aged 15-24) remained steady at 11.8% (and increased 0.1 pts over the year to March 2020)

In seasonally adjusted terms, in March 2020:

  • the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 pts to 5.2% (0.1 pts higher than a year ago)
  • unemployed people increased by 20,300 to 718,600 (and increased by 33,200 over the year to March 2020)
  • the youth unemployment rate decreased by 0.5 pts to 11.6% (and decreased by 0.2 pts over the year to March 2020)

Employment

In March 2020:

  • employment increased by 0.13% or 16,800 people to 13,020,500, which was lower than the 20 year average monthly growth rate of 0.16%
  • over the year to March 2020, employment increased by 1.8% or 224,100 people, which was lower than the 20 year annual average growth rate of 2.0%

In seasonally adjusted terms, in March 2020:

  • employment increased by 5,900 to 13,017,600 people
  • over the year to March 2020, employment increased by 1.8% or 227,000 people

Underpinning these net changes in employment is extensive change which occurs in the labour market. In recent months there has generally been considerably more than 300,000 people entering employment, and more than 300,000 leaving employment each month. There are also changes in the hours that people work, which can have an impact on the full-time and part-time composition of employment.

Full-time and part-time employment

In March 2020:

  • full-time employment increased by 8,800 to 8,888,900 people, and part-time employment increased 8,000 to 4,131,550 people
  • over the year to March 2020, full-time employment increased by 116,000 people and part-time employment increased by 108,100 people

This has led to an increase in the part-time share of employment from 31.4% to 31.7% over the year to March 2020.

In seasonally adjusted terms, in March 2020:

  • full-time employment decreased by 400 to 8,877,440, and part-time employment increased 6,400 to 4,135,560
  • over the year to March 2020, full-time employment increased by 91,700 people and part-time employment increased by 136,000 people

Employment to population ratio

In March 2020:

  • the employment to population ratio remained steady at 62.6%, and increased 0.1 pts from the same time last year

In seasonally adjusted terms, in March 2020:

  • the employment to population ratio decreased by 0.1 pts to 62.5%, and increased by 0.1 pts from the same time last year

The employment to population ratio provides a measure of the change in employment relative to changes in the size of the population.

Hours worked

In March 2020, monthly hours worked in all jobs:

  • increased by less than 1 million hours (0.0%) to 1,782 million hours
  • increased by 0.8% over the year, which is below the 1.8% increase in employed people

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

  • increased by 9 million hours (0.5%) to 1,785 million hours
  • increased by 0.7% over the year, which is below the 1.8% increase in employed people

Participation

In March 2020, the participation rate:

  • remained steady at 66.0%, and increased 0.2 pts over the year to March 2020
  • decreased by less than 0.1 pts to 70.8% for men and remained steady for women (61.3%)
  • increased by less than 0.1 pts to 78.8% for 15 to 64 year olds (the working age population). For 15 to 64 year old men, it was 83.1% and for 15 to 64 year old it was women 74.5%
  • remained steady at 68.5% for 15 to 24 year olds

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

  • remained steady at 66.0%, and increased 0.3 pts over the year to March 2020
  • remained steady for both men (70.8%) and women (61.3%)
  • remained steady at 78.7% for 15 to 64 year olds (the working age population). For 15 to 64 year old men, it was 83.1% and for 15 to 64 year old women it was 74.4%
  • remained steady at 68.5% for 15 to 24 year olds

Underemployment and underutilisation

In March 2020:

  • the underemployment rate increased by 0.1 pts to 8.7% (0.4 pts higher than a year ago)
  • the underutilisation rate increased by 0.1 pts to 13.9%

In seasonally adjusted terms, in March 2020:

  • the underemployment rate increased by 0.1 pts to 8.8% (0.6 pts higher than a year ago)
  • the underutilisation rate increased 0.2 pts to 14.0%

States and territories

March 2020, Trend estimates
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed persons4,138,1003,454,4002,567,100852,0001,368,900258,200134,300238,70013,020,500
Employed persons - monthly change0.1%0.1%0.2%0.1%0.1%0.2%0.5%0.5%0.1%
Employment to population ratio62.3%63.1%62.0%58.8%64.4%58.1%71.8%69.5%62.6%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.4 pts0.2 pts0.0 pts
Unemployment rate4.7%5.2%5.7%6.0%5.4%5.3%5.5%3.0%5.2%
Unemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.1 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts
Underemployment rate8.4%8.4%8.8%9.9%9.2%11.3%5.7%5.4%8.7%
Underemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts0.1 pts0.1 pts0.1 pts-0.1 pts0.1 pts
Participation rate65.4%66.5%65.7%62.6%68.1%61.4%76.0%71.7%66.0%
Participation rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.4 pts0.3 pts0.0 pts

Data downloads

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

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

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 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 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

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