LABOUR FORCE COMMENTARY SEPTEMBER 2013


NATIONAL ESTIMATES

Australia's unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 5.6% in September 2013 (seasonally adjusted) when calculated using unrounded numbers, while in trend terms the unemployment rate remained steady at 5.7%. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 14,700 to 697,100 in September 2013 (seasonally adjusted), while in trend terms the number of unemployed persons in September 2013 rose by 300 to 706,400. The decrease in the unemployment rate is consistent with the decrease this month in the participation rate.

September 2013 saw the seasonally adjusted participation rate decrease 0.1 percentage points to 64.9%. The trend participation rate decreased 0.1 percentage points to 65.0% in September 2013, when calculated using unrounded estimates, following a revision to the August estimate.

The seasonally adjusted number of employed persons increased by 9,100 in September 2013 to 11,645,800 persons. In trend terms, employment decreased by 200 persons to 11,646,800 persons in September 2013. The employment to population ratio, which expresses the number of employed persons as a percentage of the civilian population aged 15 years and over, remained steady at 61.2% (seasonally adjusted). The trend employment to population ratio decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 61.2%.

Seasonally adjusted full-time employment rose in September 2013, up 5,000 persons to 8,133,700 persons, while part-time employment increased by 4,100 persons to 3,512,100 persons. The increase in total employment resulted from:

• an increase in male full-time employment, up 11,100 persons
• an increase in female part-time employment, up 10,700 persons
• a decrease in male part-time employment, down 6,600 persons
• a decrease in female full-time employment, down 6,200 persons.

Despite the slight increase in total employment, seasonally adjusted aggregate hours worked decreased 6.4 million hours in September 2013 to 1,641.5 million hours.


STATE ESTIMATES

The largest absolute increases in seasonally adjusted employment were in Queensland (up 16,500 persons) and Western Australia (up 12,400 persons). The largest decrease in employment was in New South Wales, down 22,300 persons (seasonally adjusted). Seasonally adjusted estimates are not published for the territories.

Unemployment rate, State and Territories - August 2013 and September 2013
	Trend		Seasonally Adjusted
	August	September	August	September
	%	%	%	%
New South Wales	5.7	5.7	5.9	5.6
Victoria	5.7	5.7	5.7	5.8
Queensland	6.0	6.0	5.9	5.9
South Australia	6.5	6.6	6.8	6.0
Western Australia	4.7	4.7	5.0	4.6
Tasmania	8.5	8.5	8.3	8.3
Northern Territory	5.5	5.5	np	np
Australian Capital Territory	4.0	4.1	np	np
Australia	5.7	5.7	5.8	5.6
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated

ABOUT THE DATA

Federal Election

The Federal election was held on Saturday, 7 September 2013, and fell during the survey reference period for the September Labour Force Survey. The ABS has not seasonally adjusted for any Federal election, as no significant effects have been identified in the original data.


Matched Sample

As the phase-in of the 2011 Census based sample design was completed in August 2013, only one rotation group is being replaced each month. As a result, the proportion of sample matched each month will be higher than since May 2013 and, subject to response rates, will be similar to historical levels. This will be reflected in the gross flows estimates in Table 17.


Response Rate

The response rate for the September 2013 Labour Force Survey was 94%, an increase on the 93% response rate achieved for the August 2013 survey, but lower than the average of the preceding 12 months (96%). The lower response rate may have resulted in slightly more variability in the estimates when compared with previous months. This is not reflected in the standard errors presented in this publication as they are modelled rather than calculated each month.