LABOUR FORCE


CONTENTS

Employed persons

Unemployment

Participation rate


EMPLOYED PERSONS

In trend terms, the total number of persons employed in South Australia has shown little change throughout most of 2009. A series of small consecutive increases over the last 3 months has seen the November estimate reach 794,600 which is 0.5% higher than the estimate for January 2009. The total number of persons employed in Australia in November 2009 was 10,844,400, an increase of 17,300 on the number employed in October 2009 (10,827,100).

The number of males employed full-time in South Australia in November 2009 was 344,300 (in trend terms), a slight increase from the previous month (343,500). Looking at the composition of all male employees, those working full time accounted for 80.5% of the male workforce, down from 84.6% in November 2008. The number of females employed full-time in South Australia fell between October and November 2009, from 179,900 to 179,100. Full-time female employees accounted for 48.8% of the female workforce in November 2009, down from 49.7% in November of the previous year.


UNEMPLOYMENT

The trend estimate unemployment rates for both South Australia and Australia fell marginally in November 2009 to 5.5% and 5.7% respectively. South Australia's rate has been lower than the national rate since April 2009.

The trend unemployment rate for males in South Australia has been very similar to that for males in Australia since July 2009 and both were 5.9% in November 2009. Following a period of sharp decline between December 2008 and June 2009, where the estimate fell from 5.8% to 4.9%, the trend unemployment rate for South Australian females is on the increase with an estimate of 5.1% recorded in November 2009. The national unemployment rate for females (in trend terms) has risen from 4.8% in December 2008 to 5.6% in November 2009.

PARTICIPATION RATE

Following six months of decline from March 2009, the trend estimate of the participation rate for South Australia has stabilised and was 63.2% in November 2009. Australia's trend participation rate has also steadied during the past two months and was 65.2% in November 2009.

In South Australia, the participation rate for males rose slightly (0.1%) to 69.8% in November 2009. The Australian participation rate for males remained at 72.1% for the fifth consecutive month. In contrast to the movement in the male series, the participation rate for South Australian females has fallen for the sixth consecutive month. From a peak of 57.9% in April and May 2009, the estimate has fallen to 56.9% in November. The Australian female participation rate remained steady at 58.5% in November 2009.