Participation, Job Search and Mobility, Australia

Latest release

Labour participation potential, underemployment and job attachment, job search experience, labour mobility, hours worked, industry and occupation.

Reference period

February 2025

Released

29/07/2025

Next release Unknown

Release date and time

29/07/2025 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

In February 2025:

1.7 million people were not working but wanted to work
the job mobility rate was 7.7%, a decrease from February 2024 (8.0%)
the annual retrenchment rate was 1.9%, an increase from 1.7% in February 2024
of the 14.7 million employed people (May 2025), 1.3 million preferred to work more hours

Statistics from the Participation, Job Search and Mobility (PJSM) survey are published in three topic-based releases:

North Queensland Floods

Flooding in Northern Queensland in February 2025, particularly in Townsville, resulted in some disruptions to the collection of the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

The ABS reviewed the data for Townsville SA4 and revised the February LFS estimates with imputed sample responses for that area, consistent with the approach used to address impacts from previous natural disasters.

Estimates for PJSM were benchmarked to align with these revised LFS estimates, using the standard weighting and estimation approach. For more information, refer to the March 2025 release of Labour Force, Australia.

Microdata and Tablebuilder

Microdata from the PJSM survey for 2015 to 2025 will be released in TableBuilder and DataLab (as a supplementary file to the Longitudinal Labour Force) on 7 August 2025. For more information, refer to Microdata and TableBuilder: Participation, Job Search and Mobility.

Data downloads

How to use tables

Download all (16.24 MB)

Potential workers

Data files

Table 1. Potential workers and discouraged job seekers
Download xlsx [672.93 KB]
Table 2. Characteristics of discouraged job seekers and other potential workers
Download xlsx [5.33 MB]
Table 3. Duration since last job and main activity of discouraged job seekers and other potential workers
Download xlsx [4.37 MB]
Table 4. Reasons did not actively look for work
Download xlsx [1.88 MB]
Table 5. Job search experience of unemployed persons
Download xlsx [315.91 KB]
Table 6. Characteristics of successful and unsuccessful job search experience
Download xlsx [1.7 MB]
Table 7. Looking for work
Download xlsx [2.76 MB]

Download all (12.34 MB)

Job mobility

Data files

Table 1. Labour mobility, retrenchments and duration of employment
Download xlsx [573.63 KB]
Table 2. Retrenchments and other reasons for ceasing a job last year
Download xlsx [3.26 MB]
Table 3. Changes in employment characteristics of people employed last year
Download xlsx [1014.4 KB]
Table 4. Separations and other changes in employment of people employed last year by industry
Download xlsx [2.9 MB]
Table 5. Engagements and other changes in employment of people employed last year by industry
Download xlsx [2.87 MB]
Table 6. Separations and other changes in employment of people employed last year by occupation
Download xlsx [1.9 MB]
Table 7. Engagements and other changes in employment of people employed last year by occupation
Download xlsx [1.84 MB]
Relative standard errors, Tables 1 to 7
Download zip [10.59 MB]

Download all (6.52 MB)

Underemployed workers

Data files

Table 1. Cyclical and structural underemployment of full-time and part-time workers
Download xlsx [1.48 MB]
Table 2. Extended measures of underutilisation
Download xlsx [218.42 KB]
Table 3. Underemployment status of full-time and part-time workers
Download xlsx [225.85 KB]
Table 4. Part-time workers who prefer more hours
Download xlsx [310.07 KB]
Table 5. Characteristics of part-time workers who prefer more hours
Download xlsx [1.11 MB]
Table 6. Duration of insufficient hours of underemployed part-time workers
Download xlsx [2.31 MB]
Table 7. Number of extra weekly hours preferred by underemployed part-time workers
Download xlsx [1.92 MB]
Relative standard errors, Tables 2 to 7
Download zip [3.91 MB]

Download all (832.29 KB)

Microdata and TableBuilder

Data files

Table 1. Populations
Download xlsx [581.39 KB]
Relative standard errors, Table 1
Download xlsx [414.99 KB]

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6226.0 (6226.0.55.001 in 2014).

Post release changes

29 July 2025 - 1pm:

Corrections were made to 'Changed jobs in last 12 months' in Job mobility Tables 1, 2 and 3.

Methodology

Participation, Job Search and Mobility, Australia methodology, February 2025

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APA

Participation, Job Search and Mobility, Australia

APA

Key statistics

North Queensland Floods

Microdata and Tablebuilder

Data downloads

How to use tables

Potential workers

Table 1. Potential workers and discouraged job seekers

Table 2. Characteristics of discouraged job seekers and other potential workers

Table 3. Duration since last job and main activity of discouraged job seekers and other potential workers

Table 4. Reasons did not actively look for work

Table 5. Job search experience of unemployed persons

Table 6. Characteristics of successful and unsuccessful job search experience

Table 7. Looking for work

Job mobility

Table 1. Labour mobility, retrenchments and duration of employment

Table 2. Retrenchments and other reasons for ceasing a job last year

Table 3. Changes in employment characteristics of people employed last year

Table 4. Separations and other changes in employment of people employed last year by industry

Table 5. Engagements and other changes in employment of people employed last year by industry

Table 6. Separations and other changes in employment of people employed last year by occupation

Table 7. Engagements and other changes in employment of people employed last year by occupation

Relative standard errors, Tables 1 to 7

Underemployed workers

Table 1. Cyclical and structural underemployment of full-time and part-time workers

Table 2. Extended measures of underutilisation

Table 3. Underemployment status of full-time and part-time workers

Table 4. Part-time workers who prefer more hours

Table 5. Characteristics of part-time workers who prefer more hours

Table 6. Duration of insufficient hours of underemployed part-time workers

Table 7. Number of extra weekly hours preferred by underemployed part-time workers

Relative standard errors, Tables 2 to 7

Microdata and TableBuilder

Table 1. Populations

Relative standard errors, Table 1

Previous catalogue number

Post release changes

Methodology

Do you need more detailed statistics?

Request data

Microdata and TableBuilder