MARCH KEY FIGURES

		Feb 2011	Mar 2011	Feb 11 to Mar 11		Mar 10 to Mar 11
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 439.9	11 448.5	8.6		2.8	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	600.1	594.7	-5.4		-4.7	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.0	4.9	0.0	pts	-0.4	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.8	65.8	0.0	pts	0.5	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 419.3	11 457.1	37.8		2.9	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	603.1	592.9	-10.2		-6.3	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.0	4.9	-0.1	pts	-0.5	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.7	65.8	0.1	pts	0.5	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

MARCH KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased to 11,448,500.
• Unemployment decreased to 594,700.
• Unemployment rate decreased to 4.9%.
• Participation rate at 65.8%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased to 1,609.7 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 37,800 (0.3%) to 11,457,100. Full-time employment increased 32,100 to 8,105,600 and part-time employment increased 5,700 to 3,351,500.
• Unemployment decreased 10,200 (-1.7%) to 592,900. The number of persons looking for full-time work decreased 3,100 to 414,600 and the number of persons looking for part-time work decreased 7,100 to 178,300.
• Unemployment rate decreased to 4.9%. The male unemployment rate decreased 0.3 pts to 4.5% and the female unemployment rate increased 0.1 pts to 5.4%.
• Participation rate increased 0.1 pts to 65.8%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased 13.1 million hours to 1,618.3 million hours.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
April 2011	12 May 2011
May 2011	9 June 2011
June 2011	7 July 2011
July 2011	11 August 2011
August 2011	8 September 2011
September 2011	13 October 2011

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 this variability (see pages 34 and 35 of the publication). The interval bounded by two standard errors is the 95% confidence interval, which provides a way of looking at the variability inherent in estimates. This represents a 95% chance that the true value of the estimate lies within that interval.

Movements in seasonally adjusted series between February 2011 and March 2011
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	37 800	-16 800	to	92 400
Total Unemployment	-10 200	-43 200	to	22 800
Unemployment rate	-0.1 pts	-0.3 pts	to	0.1 pts
Participation rate	0.1 pts	-0.3 pts	to	0.5 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.