Labour Force, Australia

Latest release

Headline estimates of employment, unemployment, underemployment, participation and hours worked from the monthly Labour Force Survey

Reference period
January 2026
Released
19/02/2026
  • Next Release 19/03/2026
    Labour Force, Australia, February 2026
  • Next Release 16/04/2026
    Labour Force, Australia, March 2026
  • Next Release 21/05/2026
    Labour Force, Australia, April 2026
  • View all releases
Release date and time
19/02/2026 11:30am AEDT

Key statistics

In trend terms, in January 2026:

  • unemployment rate decreased to 4.1%.
  • participation rate decreased to 66.7%.
  • employment increased to 14,705,800.
  • employment to population ratio increased to 64.0%.
  • underemployment rate remained at 5.9%.
  • monthly hours worked increased to 2,007 million.

In seasonally adjusted terms, in January 2026:

  • unemployment rate remained at 4.1%.
  • participation rate remained at 66.7%.
  • employment increased to 14,703,800.
  • employment to population ratio decreased to 63.9%.
  • underemployment rate increased to 5.9%.
  • monthly hours worked increased to 2,013 million.
  • full-time employment increased by 50,500 to 10,155,500 people.
  • part-time employment decreased by 32,700 to 4,548,400 people.

Modernising the Labour Force Survey

The ABS is improving how we collect the Labour Force Survey so we can continue producing high-quality labour force statistics, maintain strong response rates, provide a better experience for respondents, and run our business more efficiently.

For further details on these plans, see Modernising the Labour Force Survey.

Key statistics - Trend
Dec-25Jan-26Monthly changeMonthly change (%)Yearly changeYearly change (%)
Employed people14,681,10014,705,80024,7000.2%179,9001.2%
Unemployed people644,500636,300-8,100-1.3%25,9004.2%
Unemployment rate4.2%4.1%-0.1 ptsna0.1 ptsna
Underemployment rate5.9%5.9%0.0 ptsna-0.1 ptsna
Participation rate66.8%66.7%0.0 ptsna-0.3 ptsna
Monthly hours worked in all jobs2,002 million2,007 million5 million0.2%31 million1.5%
Key statistics - Seasonally adjusted
Dec-25Jan-26Monthly changeMonthly change (%)Yearly changeYearly change (%)
Employed people14,686,00014,703,80017,8000.1%150,2001.0%
Unemployed people626,600624,700-1,900-0.3%-500-0.1%
Unemployment rate4.1%4.1%0.0 ptsna0.0 ptsna
Underemployment rate5.7%5.9%0.2 ptsna-0.1 ptsna
Participation rate66.7%66.7%0.0 ptsna-0.6 ptsna
Monthly hours worked in all jobs2,002 million2,013 million11 million0.6%32 million1.6%

Estimates of changes throughout this release are calculated using un-rounded level estimates and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements obtained from the rounded level estimates.

For definitions of labour statistics used in this publication, please refer to Glossary of Labour Force, Australia methodology.

Survey impacts and changes

Survey response and timeline

Unemployment

In trend terms, in January 2026:

  • unemployment rate decreased to 4.1%.
  • unemployed people decreased by 8,100 to 636,300.
  • youth unemployment rate remained at 9.6%.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, January 2026.

Employment

In trend terms, in January 2026, employment increased by 24,700 people (0.2%) to 14,705,800 people. 

Flows into and out of employment

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, January 2026.

Full-time and part-time employment

In trend terms, in January 2026:

  • full-time employment increased by 19,800 to 10,141,400 people, and part-time employment increased by 4,900 to 4,564,400 people.
  • part-time share of employment was 31.0%.

 

Employment-to-population ratio

In trend terms, in January 2026, the employment-to-population ratio increased to 64.0%.

The employment-to-population ratio provides a measure of employment relative to the size of the population.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, January 2026.

Hours worked

In trend terms, in January 2026, monthly hours worked in all jobs increased to 2,007 million hours.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, January 2026.

Participation

In trend terms, in January 2026, the participation rate:

  • decreased to 66.7%.
  • decreased to 70.6% for men and 62.9% for women.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, January 2026.

Underemployment

In trend terms, in January 2026:

  • underemployment rate remained at 5.9%.
  • underutilisation rate decreased to 10.0%.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, January 2026.

States and Territories

January 2026 - Trend
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed people4,502,0003,817,6003,013,4001,001,0001,667,300280,600145,700272,90014,705,800
Employed people - monthly change0.2%0.1%0.2%0.3%0.4%-0.4%0.3%0.0%0.2%
Employment to population ratio63.0%64.6%64.0%62.5%65.8%57.8%69.8%68.4%64.0%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change0.1 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts0.1 pts-0.3 pts0.1 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts
Unemployment rate4.0%4.5%4.2%3.8%3.9%4.5%4.5%4.3%4.1%
Unemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts-0.1 pts-0.1 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts-0.1 pts
Underemployment rate5.5%6.5%6.2%6.2%5.3%7.2%3.7%4.4%5.9%
Underemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts
Participation rate65.6%67.6%66.8%65.0%68.5%60.5%73.1%71.4%66.7%
Participation rate - monthly change0.1 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts-0.2 pts0.2 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts
January 2026 - Seasonally adjusted
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed people4,496,3003,816,1003,022,1001,002,7001,673,600279,900145,900273,20014,703,800
Employed people - monthly change0.1%0.1%0.6%0.2%-0.1%-0.5%-0.8%0.0%0.1%
Employment to population ratio62.9%64.6%64.2%62.6%66.1%57.6%69.9%68.5%63.9%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change0.0 pts-0.1 pts0.3 pts0.0 pts-0.2 pts-0.3 pts-0.6 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts
Unemployment rate4.1%4.2%4.3%3.7%3.4%4.9%4.5%4.1%4.1%
Unemployment rate - monthly change0.2 pts-0.3 pts0.4 pts-0.2 pts-0.5 pts0.4 pts0.5 pts0.5 pts0.0 pts
Underemployment rate5.6%6.5%6.3%6.2%5.3%6.9%3.9%4.3%5.9%
Underemployment rate - monthly change0.3 pts0.1 pts0.4 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts-0.5 pts0.7 pts0.1 pts0.2 pts
Participation rate65.6%67.4%67.1%65.0%68.4%60.6%73.2%71.4%66.7%
Participation rate - monthly change0.1 pts-0.3 pts0.6 pts-0.1 pts-0.6 pts-0.1 pts-0.3 pts0.3 pts0.0 pts

Historical charts

Historical charts for employed, unemployed, unemployment rate and participation rate from August 1966 to January 2026

Rotation group analysis

Sample composition and rotation

Estimates for the incoming and outgoing rotation groups

States and Territories

Comparability with seasonally adjusted and trend data

Contribution from sample components to estimates

Data downloads

Labour Force Survey results are released in three stages.

  1. Spreadsheets of the headline indicators are published in this release
  2. Additional, more detailed spreadsheets and pivot tables are published in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed one week after this first release
  3. Longitudinal labour force microdata are released in the ABS DataLab on a monthly basis, one day after the detailed release (see Microdata: Longitudinal Labour Force, Australia)

See the Survey output section of Labour Force, Australia methodology for more information.

Labour Force status

Data files

The Labour Account is the best source of quarterly data for the market and non-market sectors. For information, see Industry employment guide.

The ABS is currently reviewing the usefulness of the market and non-market sector data in Table 21 of the headline Labour Force release.

Hours worked

Data files

Underemployment and underutilisation

Data files

Flows into and out of employment

GM1 - Labour force status and Gross changes (flows) by Age, Sex, State and Territory, February 2007 to January 2026

GM1 - Labour force status and Gross changes (flows) by Age, Sex, State and Territory, Historical (from February 1991)

All time series spreadsheets

All time series spreadsheets

Data Explorer datasets

Caution: Data in the Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the time period when using Data Explorer.

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data Explorer user guide.

Labour Force status by Sex, State and Territory - Number of people employed, unemployed and not in the labour force, monthly, February 1978 onwards.

Labour Force monthly hours worked by Sex, State and Territory - Monthly hours worked by employed people, monthly, July 1978 onwards.

Labour Force status by Age Groups - Number of people employed, unemployed and not in the labour force, monthly, February 1978 onwards.

Labour Force Educational Attendance - Educational attendance (Full Time) for 15-24 year olds by State, Territory and Sex, monthly, April 1986 onwards.

Article archive

Employment and jobs

Unemployment and underemployment

Hours worked

Methodology

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6202.0.

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