6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Apr 2013 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 09/05/2013   
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LABOUR FORCE COMMENTARY APRIL 2013


AUSTRALIA'S SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATE AT 5.5% IN APRIL 2013

Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.5% in April 2013, which was relatively unchanged from the previous month. The trend unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.5%. The number of people unemployed decreased slightly by 2,700 to 685,300 in April 2013 (seasonally adjusted).

April 2013 saw an increase in the seasonally adjusted participation rate of 0.2 percentage points to 65.3%, after the rate for March was revised up slightly to 65.2%. The trend participation rate was 65.3% in April 2013.

The number of employed people rose by 50,100 in April 2013 to 11,663,200 people (seasonally adjusted). This followed a revised decrease of 31,200 in March in the number of employed people. In trend terms, employment continued to increase, increasing by 16,500 people to 11,646,000 people in April 2013.

Both full-time and part-time seasonally adjusted employment rose in April 2013, with full-time employment up 34,500 people to 8,159,700 people and part-time employment up 15,600 to 3,503,500 people. The increase in total employment was mainly driven by increases in female full-time (up 20,400) and male full-time (up 14,100) employment.

Consistent with their population size, the largest absolute increases in employment were seen in New South Wales and Victoria, with increases of 19,700 and 8,100 people respectively (seasonally adjusted). In percentage terms the increase in South Australia was the highest (0.6%) followed by New South Wales (0.5%). In seasonally adjusted terms, Tasmania was the only state with a decrease in employment in April, down 600 people. (Seasonally adjusted estimates are not published for the territories.)

Consistent with the increase in total employment, seasonally adjusted aggregate hours worked increased 10.9 million hours (0.7%) in April 2013 to 1,643.3 million hours.

Labour force estimates for the period January 2011 to March 2013 have been revised to reflect the latest available information on population benchmarks. For more information, refer to the "What's New in Labour Force" section of this publication.

Unemployment rate, State and Territories, April 2013

Trend
Seasonally Adjusted
%
%

New South Wales
5.4
5.3
Victoria
5.8
5.8
Queensland
5.7
5.6
South Australia
5.8
5.7
Western Australia
4.9
5.2
Tasmania
7.4
7.5
Northern Territory
4.5
np
Australian Capital Territory
4.6
np
Australia
5.5
5.5

np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated