Labour Force, Australia

Latest release

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

Reference period
September 2024
Released
17/10/2024
  • Next Release 14/11/2024
    Labour Force, Australia, October 2024
  • Next Release 12/12/2024
    Labour Force, Australia, November 2024
  • Next Release 16/01/2025
    Labour Force, Australia, December 2024
  • View all releases

Key statistics

In trend terms, in September 2024:

  • unemployment rate remained at 4.1%. 
  • participation rate increased to 67.2%.
  • employment increased to 14,514,300. 
  • employment to population ratio remained at 64.4%.
  • underemployment rate remained at 6.4%.
  • monthly hours worked increased to 1,965 million.

In seasonally adjusted terms, in September 2024:

  • unemployment rate remained at 4.1%.
  • participation rate increased to 67.2%.
  • employment increased to 14,521,900.
  • employment to population ratio increased to 64.4%.
  • underemployment rate decreased to 6.3%.
  • monthly hours worked increased to 1,968 million.
  • full-time employment increased by 51,600 to 10,028,400 people.
  • part-time employment increased by 12,500 to 4,493,500 people.
Key statistics - Trend
Aug-24Sep-24Monthly changeMonthly change (%)Yearly changeYearly change (%)
Employed people14,469,90014,514,30044,4000.3%403,4002.9%
Unemployed people620,100621,1001,1000.2%71,60013.0%
Unemployment rate4.1%4.1%0.0 ptsna0.4 ptsna
Underemployment rate6.4%6.4%0.0 ptsna-0.2 ptsna
Participation rate67.1%67.2%0.1 ptsna0.5 ptsna
Monthly hours worked in all jobs1,961 million1,965 million4 million0.2%36 million1.9%
Key statistics - Seasonally adjusted
Aug-24Sep-24Monthly changeMonthly change (%)Yearly changeYearly change (%)
Employed people14,457,80014,521,90064,1000.4%434,9003.1%
Unemployed people624,900615,700-9,200-1.5%90,10017.2%
Unemployment rate4.1%4.1%-0.1 ptsna0.5 ptsna
Underemployment rate6.5%6.3%-0.1 ptsna-0.1 ptsna
Participation rate67.1%67.2%0.1 ptsna0.7 ptsna
Monthly hours worked in all jobs1,963 million1,968 million5 million0.3%45 million2.4%

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

For definitions of labour statistics used in this publication, please refer to Glossary of Labour Force, Australia methodology.

Survey impacts and changes

Release of modelled regional labour force estimates

Survey response and timeline

Unemployment

In trend terms, in September 2024:

  • unemployment rate remained at 4.1%.
  • unemployed people increased by 1,100 to 621,100. 
  • youth unemployment rate decreased to 9.5%.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, September 2024.

Employment

In trend terms, in September 2024, employment increased by 44,400 people (0.3%) to 14,514,300 people. 

Flows into and out of employment

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, September 2024.

Full-time and part-time employment

In trend terms, in September 2024:

  • full-time employment increased by 29,800 to 10,029,100 people, and part-time employment increased by 14,500 to 4,485,100 people.
  • part-time share of employment was 30.9%. 

 

Employment-to-population ratio

In trend terms, in September 2024, the employment-to-population ratio remained at 64.4%.

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

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, September 2024.

Hours worked

In trend terms, in September 2024, monthly hours worked in all jobs increased by 4.3 million hours (0.2%) to 1,965 million hours.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, September 2024.

Participation

In trend terms, in September 2024, the participation rate:

  • increased to 67.2%.
  • remained at 71.3% for men and increased to 63.2% for women.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, September 2024.

Underemployment

In trend terms, in September 2024:

  • underemployment rate remained at 6.4%.
  • underutilisation rate remained at 10.5%.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, September 2024.

States and Territories

September 2024 - Trend
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed people4,477,3003,800,6002,959,700946,5001,621,600281,400139,100271,80014,514,300
Employed people - monthly change0.3%0.4%0.2%0.3%0.2%-0.1%0.0%0.2%0.3%
Employment to population ratio63.6%65.4%64.4%60.3%66.4%58.2%69.6%70.1%64.4%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change0.1 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts
Unemployment rate3.9%4.4%4.1%4.2%3.7%4.3%4.3%3.5%4.1%
Unemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts
Underemployment rate6.0%6.7%6.7%7.5%5.4%7.5%4.5%4.9%6.4%
Underemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.2 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts
Participation rate66.2%68.4%67.1%62.9%69.0%60.8%72.7%72.7%67.2%
Participation rate - monthly change0.1 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts
September 2024 - Seasonally adjusted
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed people4,483,1003,806,6002,958,900947,2001,619,900281,900138,500272,50014,521,900
Employed people - monthly change0.5%0.6%0.3%0.4%0.5%0.5%-0.5%1.2%0.4%
Employment to population ratio63.7%65.5%64.3%60.3%66.3%58.3%69.3%70.3%64.4%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change0.2 pts0.2 pts0.0 pts0.2 pts0.1 pts0.3 pts-0.4 pts0.7 pts0.1 pts
Unemployment rate3.8%4.4%4.1%4.3%3.6%4.0%4.2%3.4%4.1%
Unemployment rate - monthly change-0.2 pts-0.1 pts-0.1 pts0.4 pts-0.3 pts-0.4 pts0.0 pts-0.6 pts-0.1 pts
Underemployment rate6.0%6.7%6.6%7.5%5.4%7.9%5.2%4.7%6.3%
Underemployment rate - monthly change-0.3 pts0.0 pts-0.2 pts-0.2 pts-0.3 pts1.3 pts1.4 pts-0.3 pts-0.1 pts
Participation rate66.2%68.5%67.1%63.0%68.8%60.7%72.3%72.7%67.2%
Participation rate - monthly change0.1 pts0.2 pts-0.1 pts0.4 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts-0.4 pts0.3 pts0.1 pts

Historical charts

Historical charts for employed, unemployed, unemployment rate and participation rate from August 1966 to September 2024

Rotation group analysis

Sample composition and rotation

Estimates for the incoming and outgoing rotation groups

States and Territories

Comparability with seasonally adjusted and trend data

Contribution from sample components to estimates

Data downloads

Labour Force Survey results are released in three stages.

  1. Spreadsheets of the headline indicators are published in this release
  2. Additional, more detailed spreadsheets and pivot tables are published in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed one week after this first release
  3. Longitudinal labour force microdata are released in the ABS DataLab on a monthly basis, one day after the detailed release (see Microdata: Longitudinal Labour Force, Australia)

See the Survey output section of Labour Force, Australia methodology for more information.

Labour Force status

Data files

The Labour Account is the best source of quarterly data for the market and non-market sectors. For information, see Industry employment guide.

Hours worked

Data files

Underemployment and underutilisation

Data files

Flows into and out of employment

GM1 - Labour force status and Gross changes (flows) by Age, Sex, State and Territory, October 2005 to September 2024

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

All time series spreadsheets

All time series spreadsheets

Data Explorer datasets

Caution: Data in the Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the time period when using Data Explorer.

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data Explorer user guide.

Labour Force status by Sex, State and Territory - Number of people employed, unemployed and not in the labour force, monthly, February 1978 and onwards.

Labour Force monthly hours worked by Sex, State and Territory - Monthly hours worked by employed people, monthly, July 1978 and onwards.

Labour Force status by Age Groups - Number of people employed, unemployed and not in the labour force, monthly, February 1978 and onwards.

Labour Force Educational Attendance - Educational attendance (Full Time) for 15-24 year olds by State, Territory and Sex, monthly, April 1986 and onwards.

Article archive

Employment and jobs

Unemployment and underemployment

Hours worked

Methodology

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6202.0.

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