6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Mar 2011 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/04/2011   
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MEDIA RELEASE
7 April 2011
Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra time)
45/2011
Australia's unemployment rate decreased to 4.9 per cent in March 2011

The seasonally adjusted Australian unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percentage points to 4.9 per cent in March, as announced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.

The ABS reported the number of people employed increased 37,800 people to 11.457 million in March. The increase in employment was driven by an increase in full-time employment, up 32,100 people to 8.106 million, and an increase in part-time employment, up 5,700 people to 3.351 million.

The number of people unemployed decreased by 10,200 people to 592,900 in March.

The ABS monthly aggregate hours worked series showed an increase in March, up 13.1 million hours to 1618.3 million hours.

Labour force participation was 65.8 per cent in March, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from February.

More details are available in the March 2011 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0).

Media note: when reporting these figures please cite the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) as the source.