6291.0.55.003 - Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly, Feb 2018 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 29/03/2018   
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WHAT'S NEW IN THE LABOUR FORCE

UPCOMING ANNUAL SEASONAL REANALYSIS

Every year, the ABS conducts an "Annual Seasonal Re-analysis" of the Labour Force time series, on estimates up to March. Minor adjustments are made as a result of this annual review process (for more information see Explanatory Note 33). The outcomes of the 2018 review will be incorporated in the estimates published in the March 2018 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0), which will be released on 19 April 2018.

While seasonal factors for the complete time series are estimated every month, they are reviewed annually at a more detailed level than is possible on a monthly basis, to ensure that time series estimates are of the highest quality. As with previous reviews, the ABS expects revisions to seasonally adjusted and trend estimates arising from the annual seasonal reanalysis to be minimal.


UPCOMING IMPROVEMENTS TO TREND ESTIMATION

As part of the 2018 Annual Seasonal Reanalysis, the ABS will also implement some minor improvements to trend estimation for Labour Force time series. These improvements will reduce the extent of revisions in trend series over time, providing particular benefits for series with smaller populations (eg. states and territories with smaller populations).

For further information outlining the improved approach, including indicative impacts of the change to trend estimates, please see the article "Improvements to Trend Estimation" in the February 2018 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0).

The methods used to calculate seasonally adjusted estimates will not be changed.


UPDATE ON MONTHLY UNDEREMPLOYMENT ESTIMATES - TREND AND SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

The ABS previously advised that the range of underemployment and underutilisation measures would be expanded in the March 2018 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0), to be released on 19 April 2018. However, due to the significant amount of effort required to implement the new series into aging ABS systems and infrastructure, the implementation of the monthly underutilisation measures has been delayed.

The ABS is committed to providing high quality monthly underutilisation data and the delay will afford additional time for testing and data validation, and also enable the ABS to leverage the range of improvements, including improvements to trend estimation, made possible by the upcoming Annual Seasonal Reanalysis (ASR).

The ABS will provide further advice on the revised implementation schedule in the next issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0). We thank users for their patience and understanding with this delay.