6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Oct 2012 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 08/11/2012   
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MEDIA RELEASE
8 November 2012
Embargoed: 11.30 am (Canberra time)
174/2012

Australia's unemployment rate
decreased slightly to 5.4 per cent in October 2012


Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased slightly but the rounded estimate remained at 5.4 per cent in October, as announced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.

The ABS reported the number of people employed increased by 10,700 to 11,523,200 in October. The increase in employment was driven by increased full-time employment, up 18,700 people to 8,130,100 and was offset by decreased part-time employment, down 8,000 people to 3,393,100. The increase in employment was driven by increased male full-time employment.

The number of people unemployed decreased by 8,800 people to 653,200 in October, the ABS reported.

The ABS monthly aggregate hours worked series showed a decrease in October, down 4.2 million hours to 1,622.6 million hours.

The ABS reported a seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate decrease of 0.1 percentage points to 65.1 per cent in October.

More details are in the October 2012 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0), as well as the upcoming October 2012 issue of Labour Force, Australia, Detailed (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001) due for release next week on November 15. These publications are available for free download (after release) from the ABS website - www.abs.gov.au.

Media note:
When reporting ABS data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) must be attributed as the source.