LABOUR FORCE COMMENTARY JUNE 2013


NATIONAL ESTIMATES

Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.7% in June 2013, compared to a revised 5.6% in May. The trend unemployment rate rose by less than 0.0 percentage points to 5.7%. The number of unemployed persons increased by 23,700 to 709,300 in June 2013 (seasonally adjusted), while in trend terms the number of unemployed persons in June 2013 rose by 5,300 to 699,700.

June 2013 saw an increase in the seasonally adjusted participation rate of 0.1 percentage points to 65.3%. The trend participation rate remained at 65.3% in June 2013.

The seasonally adjusted number of employed persons rose by 10,300 in June 2013 to 11,668,500 persons. In trend terms, employment increased by 7,500 persons to 11,668,300 persons in June 2013. The employment to population ratio, which expresses the number of employed persons as a percentage of the civilian population aged 15 years and over, remained steady in June 2013 in seasonally adjusted and trend terms at 61.6%.

Seasonally adjusted part-time employment rose in June 2013, up 14,800 persons to 3,524,100 persons while full-time employment fell by 4,400 persons to 8,144,500 persons. The increase in total employment resulted from:

• an increase in female part-time employment, up 10,400 persons
• an increase in male part-time employment, up 4,400 persons
• an increase in female full-time employment, up 1,700 persons
• a fall in male full-time employment, down 6,100 persons.

Consistent with the increase in total employment, seasonally adjusted aggregate hours worked increased 8.8 million hours (0.5%) in June 2013 to 1,638.6 million hours.


STATE ESTIMATES

The largest absolute increases in employment were seen in Victoria and Western Australia, with increases of 15,000 and 4,800 persons respectively (seasonally adjusted). The largest decrease in the number of employed persons were in South Australia and Queensland, down 12,500 persons and 8,900 persons respectively (seasonally adjusted). (Seasonally adjusted estimates are not published for the territories).

Unemployment rate, State and Territories - May 2013 and June 2013
	Trend		Seasonally Adjusted
	May	June	May	June
	%	%	%	%
New South Wales	5.4	5.5	5.5	5.4
Victoria	5.7	5.7	5.4	5.8
Queensland	6.0	6.0	5.9	6.4
South Australia	5.9	5.9	5.9	6.0
Western Australia	4.9	4.9	4.9	4.6
Tasmania	7.9	8.1	7.5	8.9
Northern Territory	5.2	5.3	np	np
Australian Capital Territory	3.9	3.7	np	np
Australia	5.6	5.7	5.6	5.7
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated

ABOUT THE DATA

Phase-in of a new sample design, as well as expanding the roll out of the offer of online self completion of the Labour Force Survey, commenced in May 2013 and have continued in June.

The phase-in of a new survey sample will lead to a short term increase in the standard errors associated with Labour Force data. Standard errors on month-to-month movement estimates are predicted to increase by approximately 10% during this period but will only have a marginal impact on the quality of level estimates. For further details, refer to the article on page 10 of the May 2013 issue of this publication and the Information Paper: Labour Force Survey Sample Design, May 2013 (ABS cat. no. 6269.0). These standard errors are reflected in the table on page 2 in the Notes page.

The simultaneous phase-in of two rotation groups per month between May and August 2013 has resulted in a lower proportion of the sample matched between May 2013 and June 2013. In June 2013, the new sample in the more remote, less populated areas and non-private dwellings were introduced for Tasmania, Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. The new sample in these areas in the remaining states will be introduced in July 2013. These are reflected in smaller estimates in the gross flows in Table 17 on page 24.