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
May 2020
Released
18/06/2020

Key statistics

Seasonally adjusted estimates for May 2020:

  • Unemployment rate increased to 7.1%.
  • Participation rate decreased to 62.9%.
  • Employment decreased to 12,154,100.
  • Employment to population ratio decreased to 58.4%.
  • Underemployment rate decreased to 13.1%.
  • Monthly hours worked decreased to 1,605 million hours.
Apr-20May-20Monthly changeYearly change
Seasonally adjusted
Employed people12,381,80012,154,100-227,700 (-1.8%)-695,600 (-5.4%)
Unemployed people841,900927,60085,700 (10.2%)219,200 (30.9%)
Unemployment rate6.4%7.1%0.7 pts1.9 pts
Underemployment rate13.8%13.1%-0.7 pts4.5 pts
Participation rate63.6%62.9%-0.7 pts-3.2 pts
Monthly hours worked in all jobs1,617 million1,605 million-12 million (-0.7%)-158 million (-9.0%)

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 reference and collection week timeline

Survey response

Continued suspension of trend estimates

Quarterly population rebenchmarking

Treatment of people on JobKeeper, JobSeeker or stood down

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

Unemployment

In seasonally adjusted terms, in May 2020:

  • the unemployment rate increased by 0.7 pts to 7.1% (1.9 pts higher than a year ago)
  • unemployed people increased by 85,700 to 927,600 (and increased by 219,200 over the year to May 2020)
  • the youth unemployment rate increased by 2.0 pts to 16.1% (and increased by 4.1 pts over the year to May 2020)

Employment

In seasonally adjusted terms, in May 2020:

  • employment decreased by 227,700 people (1.8%) to 12,154,100 people
  • over the year to May 2020, employment decreased by 5.4% or 695,600 people

Underpinning these net changes in the number of employed people are extensive flows of people into and out of employment. Around 700,000 people who were employed in April were not employed in May, while around 500,000 people who were not employed in April were employed in May. See the article People who lost a job or were stood down: Flows analysis.

Full-time and part-time employment

In seasonally adjusted terms, in May 2020:

  • full-time employment decreased by 89,100 people to 8,540,000 people, and part-time employment decreased 138,600 to 3,614,100 people
  • over the year to May 2020, full-time employment decreased by 237,900 people and part-time employment decreased by 457,700 people

This change led to a decrease in the part-time share of employment over the past 12 months, from 30.3 to 29.7%.

Employment-to-population ratio

In seasonally adjusted terms, in May 2020:

  • the employment-to-population ratio decreased by 1.1 pts to 58.4%, and decreased by 4.2 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 May 2020, monthly hours worked in all jobs:

  • decreased by 12 million hours (-0.7%) to 1,605 million hours
  • decreased by 9.0% over the year, which is higher than the 5.4% decrease in employed people

See the article Insights into Hours worked for more.

Participation

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

  • decreased by 0.7 pts to 62.9%, and decreased 3.2 pts over the year to May 2020
  • decreased by 0.8 pts for men (to 68.1%) and decreased by 0.6 pts for women (57.8%)
  • decreased by 0.8 pts to 75.3% for 15 to 64 year olds (the working age population). For 15 to 64 year old men, it was 80.1% and for 15 to 64 year old women it was 70.6%
  • decreased by 2.8 pts to 59.9% for 15 to 24 year olds

Underemployment

In seasonally adjusted terms, in May 2020:

  • the underemployment rate decreased by 0.7 pts to 13.1% (4.5 pts higher than a year ago)
  • the underutilisation rate increased less than 0.1 pts to 20.2%

States and territories

May 2020, Seasonally adjusted
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed persons3,856,4003,247,1002,390,900806,1001,272,000238,700129,900227,50012,154,100
Employed persons - monthly change-1.1%-2.1%-1.2%-1.4%-2.3%-4.0%-1.6%-1.6%-1.8%
Employment to population ratio58.1%59.3%57.7%55.6%59.7%53.7%69.2%66.6%58.4%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change-0.7 pts-1.3 pts-0.7 pts-0.8 pts-1.4 pts-2.3 pts-1.1 pts-1.1 pts-1.1 pts
Unemployment rate6.4%6.9%7.9%7.9%8.1%6.4%7.4%4.1%7.1%
Unemployment rate - monthly change0.1 pts0.9 pts0.9 pts0.7 pts2.0 pts0.1 pts1.8 pts-0.1 pts0.7 pts
Underemployment rate13.5%15.2%11.8%13.1%12.1%14.6%10.3%5.7%13.1%
Underemployment rate - monthly change0.2 pts0.7 pts-1.1 pts-2.5 pts-2.3 pts-1.8 pts-0.0 pts-3.5pts-0.7 pts
Participation rate62.10%63.7%62.6%60.3%65.0%57.3%74.7%69.4%62.9%
Participation rate - monthly change-0.7 pts-0.8 pts-0.2 pts-0.4 pts-0.1 pts-2.3 pts0.2 pts-1.2 pts-0.7 pts

Rotation group analysis

Sample composition and rotation

COVID-19 and the incoming rotation groups in April and May

Incoming and outgoing rotation groups

The importance of seasonally adjusted data

Contribution from sample components to estimates

Data downloads

Labour Force Survey results are released in two stages, with data not included in this first release included in the second monthly release Labour Force, Australia, DetailedThis second release includes both monthly and quarterly data. See the Survey output section of Labour Force, Australia methodology.

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

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