6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, September 2018 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 18/10/2018   
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LABOUR FORCE COMMENTARY SEPTEMBER 2018


NATIONAL ESTIMATES

TREND ESTIMATES

Australia's trend estimate of employment increased by 26,400 persons in September 2018, with:

  • the number of unemployed persons decreasing by 10,500 persons;
  • the unemployment rate remaining steady at 5.2 per cent;
  • the participation rate remaining steady at 65.6 per cent; and
  • the employment to population ratio increasing by 0.1 per cent to 62.2 per cent.

Over the past year, trend employment increased by 290,600 persons (or 2.4 per cent), which was above the average annual growth rate over the past 20 years of 2.0 per cent. Over the same 12 month period the trend employment to population ratio, which is a measure of how employed the population (aged 15 years and over) is, increased by 0.4 percentage points to 62.2 per cent.

In monthly terms, trend employment increased by 26,400 persons between August and September 2018. This represents an increase of 0.21 per cent, which was above the monthly average growth rate over the past 20 years of 0.16 per cent.

Underpinning these net changes in employment is extensive dynamic change, which occurs each month 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. There is also further dynamic change in the hours that people work, which results in changes in the full-time and part-time composition of employment.

In net terms, trend full-time employment increased by 21,500 persons between August and September 2018, and part-time employment increased by 4,900 persons. Compared to a year ago, there are 186,100 more persons employed full-time and 104,500 more persons employed part-time.

The trend estimate of monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 2.8 million hours (or 0.2 per cent) in September 2018, to 1,756 million hours. Monthly hours worked increased by 1.8 per cent over the past year. The average hours worked per employed person was 138.9 hours per month, or around 32 hours per week.

The trend unemployment rate remained steady at 5.2 per cent in September 2018. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 10,500 to 688,500 persons. Over the past year, the trend unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points, with the number of unemployed decreasing by 29,100 persons.

The monthly trend underemployment rate decreased to 8.3 per cent in September 2018. Over the past year this rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points, from 8.5 per cent in September 2017. The monthly underutilisation rate, which is a combined measure of unemployment and underemployment in the labour force, was 13.5 per cent in September 2018, down 0.5 percentage points from 14.0 per cent in August 2017.

The trend participation rate remained steady at 65.6 per cent in September 2018, and was 0.3 percentage points higher than in September 2017. The female participation rate remained steady at 60.4 per cent and the male participation rate remained steady at 71.0 per cent.

The labour force includes the total number of employed and unemployed persons. Over the past year, the labour force increased by 261,500 persons (or 2.0 per cent). This rate of increase was above the rate of increase for the total Civilian Population aged 15 years and over (319,400 persons, or 1.6 per cent).

The trend participation rate for 15-64 year olds, which controls (in part) for the effects of an ageing population remained steady at 78.0 per cent. The gap between male and female participation rates in this age range is less than 10 percentage points, at 82.9 and 73.2 per cent respectively, continuing the long term convergence of male and female participation.

The trend participation rate for 15-24 year olds (who are often referred to as the "youth" group in the labour market) remained steady at 67.9 per cent. The unemployment rate for this group remained steady at 11.2 per cent in September 2018 and decreased by 1.3 percentage points over the year.

The trend series smooths the more volatile seasonally adjusted estimates and provide the best measure of the underlying behaviour of the labour market.


SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES

Seasonally adjusted employment increased by 5,600 persons from August to September 2018. The underlying composition of the net change was an increase of 20,300 persons in full-time employment and a decrease of 14,700 persons in part-time employment. Since September 2017, full-time employment increased by 217,500 persons, while part-time employment increased by 63,400 persons.

Seasonally adjusted monthly hours worked in all jobs increased by 6.2 million hours (or 0.4 per cent) in September to 1,757.5 million hours.

The seasonally adjusted employment to population ratio remained steady at 62.2 per cent in September, and increased by 0.4 percentage points from the same time last year.

Graph 1, Employment to population ratio, Persons, September 2008 to September 2018
Graph: Graph 1, Employment to population ratio, Persons, September 2008 to September 2018


The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 percentage point to 5.0 per cent in September 2018. The participation rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 65.4 per cent.

The monthly seasonally adjusted underemployment rate remained steady at 8.3 per cent. The monthly underutilisation rate decreased 0.2 percentage points to 13.3 per cent.


STATE AND TERRITORY ESTIMATES

TREND ESTIMATES

In September 2018, the largest increases in trend employment were in New South Wales (up 8,600 persons), followed by Victoria (up 7,900 persons) and Queensland and Western Australia (both up 1,900 persons). Employment decreased by 1,000 persons in South Australia.

Over the past year, increases in employment were observed in all states and territories. The largest increases were in New South Wales (up 134,700 persons), Victoria (up 85,200 persons), Queensland (up 39,100 persons), and Western Australia (up 13,400 persons). The highest annual employment growth rates were in New South Wales at 3.4 per cent and Victoria at 2.6 per cent and were the only states or territories to record year on year growth above their 20 year averages.

The monthly trend unemployment rate was highest in Queensland and Western Australia (both 6.1 per cent), followed by Tasmania (5.9 per cent). The unemployment rate was lowest in the Australian Capital Territory (3.6 per cent) and Northern Territory (4.1 per cent).

The monthly trend participation rate remained unchanged in New South Wales (65.1 per cent), Victoria (65.6 per cent), Queensland (65.8 per cent) and Australian Capital Territory (70.6 per cent). The monthly trend participation rate decreased in the Northern Territory (down 0.4 percentage points to 75.3 per cent), Western Australia (down 0.1 percentage points to 68.6 per cent), South Australia (down 0.1 percentage points to 62.3 per cent) and Tasmania (down 0.1 percentage points to 60.9 per cent).


SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES

In seasonally adjusted terms, the largest increase in employment was in Victoria (up 20,000 persons), followed by Western Australia (up 3,100 persons) and New South Wales (up 2,800 persons). The largest decrease was in Queensland (down 11,600 persons).

There were decreases in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in September 2018 in Western Australia (down 0.4 percentage points to 6.0 per cent), followed by New South Wales (down 0.3 percentage points to 4.4 per cent), Queensland (down 0.3 percentage points to 6.0 per cent), Victoria (down 0.2 percentage points to 4.5 per cent), South Australia (down 0.2 percentage points to 5.5 per cent). The Tasmanian unemployment rate remained steady at 5.8 per cent.

Seasonally adjusted participation rate in September 2018 decreased in all states except Victoria. The largest decrease was in Queensland (down 0.6 percentage points to 65.5 per cent), followed by Tasmania (down 0.4 percentage points to 60.6 per cent), New South Wales (down 0.2 percentage points to 65.0 per cent), South Australia (down 0.2 percentage points to 62.0 per cent), Western Australia (down 0.2 percentage points to 68.6 per cent).

Seasonally adjusted estimates are not published for the two territories.

Table 1, Unemployment rate, States and Territories

Trend
Seasonally Adjusted
August
September
August
September
%
%
%
%

New South Wales
4.6
4.5
4.6
4.4
Victoria
4.8
4.7
4.7
4.5
Queensland
6.1
6.1
6.3
6.0
South Australia
5.6
5.6
5.7
5.5
Western Australia
6.1
6.1
6.4
6.0
Tasmania
5.9
5.9
5.8
5.8
Northern Territory
4.0
4.1
np
np
Australian Capital Territory
3.7
3.6
np
np
Australia
5.2
5.2
5.3
5.0

np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated