6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Dec 2011 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/01/2012   
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DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

Nov 2011
Dec 2011
Nov 11 to Dec 11
Dec 10 to Dec 11

Trend
Employed persons ('000)
11 442.3
11 440.1
-2.1
0.2
%
Unemployed persons ('000)
634.0
634.2
0.2
4.1
%
Unemployment rate (%)
5.3
5.3
0.0
pts
0.2
pts
Participation rate (%)
65.4
65.4
-0.1
pts
-0.5
pts
Seasonally Adjusted
Employed persons ('000)
11 450.6
11 421.3
-29.3
0.0
%
Unemployed persons ('000)
633.7
629.9
-3.8
6.4
%
Unemployment rate (%)
5.2
5.2
0.0
pts
0.3
pts
Participation rate (%)
65.5
65.2
-0.3
pts
-0.6
pts


Employed Persons
Graph: Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate
Graph: Unemployment Rate




DECEMBER KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)
  • Employment decreased to 11,440,100.
  • Unemployment increased to 634,200.
  • Unemployment rate steady at 5.3%.
  • Participation rate at 65.4%.
  • Aggregate monthly hours worked decreased to 1,620.4 million hours.


SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)
  • Employment decreased 29,300 (0.3%) to 11,421,300. Full-time employment increased 24,500 persons to 8,051,000 and part-time employment decreased 53,700 persons to 3,370,300.
  • Unemployment decreased 3,800 (0.6%) to 629,900. The number of persons looking for part-time work decreased 4,100 to 177,600 and the number of persons looking for full-time work increased 300 to 452,300.
  • The unemployment rate remained steady at 5.2%. The male unemployment rate decreased 0.2 pts to 5.0% and the female unemployment rate increased 0.1 pts to 5.5%.
  • The participation rate decreased 0.3 pts to 65.2%.
  • Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 5.6 million hours to 1,622.0 million hours.


NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE Release Date
January 2012 16 February 2012
February 2012 8 March 2012
March 2012 12 April 2012
April 2012 10 May 2012
May 2012 7 June 2012
June 2012 12 July 2012



CHANGES THIS MONTH

Usually in December, estimates are published 39 days after the commencement of interviews. This month, estimates are published 46 days after the commencement of interviews due to operational difficulties involved in collecting and processing the Labour Force Survey around the Christmas and New Year Holiday period. There has been no change to the standard pattern of interviewing which started on the 4th of December for a reference period, 27th of November to the 10th of December.


ROUNDING

Estimates of monthly change shown on the front cover have been calculated using unrounded estimates, and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements obtained from the rounded estimates. The graphs on the front cover also depict unrounded estimates.


SAMPLING ERROR

The estimates in this publication are based on a sample survey. Published estimates and the movements derived from them are subject to sampling variability. Standard errors give a measure of sampling variability (see pages 34 and 35). The interval bounded by two standard errors is the 95% confidence interval, which provides a way of looking at the variability inherent in estimates. There is a 95% chance that the true value of the estimate lies within that interval.

MOVEMENTS IN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED SERIES BETWEEN NOVEMBER 2011 AND DECEMBER 2011

Monthly change
95% Confidence interval

Total Employment
-29 300
-84 300
to
25 700
Total Unemployment
-3 800
-35 000
to
27 400
Unemployment rate
0.0 pts
-0.2 pts
to
0.2 pts
Participation rate
-0.3 pts
-0.7 pts
to
0.1 pts




INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070, email client.services@abs.gov.au or Labour Force on Canberra (02) 6252 6525, email labourforce@abs.gov.au.