LABOUR FORCE COMMENTARY OCTOBER 2014
NEW SEASONAL ADJUSTMENT TECHNIQUE
The seasonality of the labour force data has been re-estimated with specific adjustments made for the changed pattern of supplementary surveys. These adjustments have been applied to the seasonally adjusted series from December 2013 onwards, resulting in revisions to the seasonally adjusted and trend estimates. For further details see the Information note on pages 6-16.
NATIONAL ESTIMATES
Australia's unemployment rate remained at 6.2% in October 2014 (seasonally adjusted). The number of unemployed persons increased by 7,100 to 772,100 in October 2014 (seasonally adjusted).
In trend terms the unemployment rate also remained at 6.2% in October 2014. The number of employed persons in October 2014 increased by 1,300 to 11,589,000 and the number of unemployed persons increased by 5,000 to 768,700 in trend terms. The trend participation rate remained at 64.6% in October 2014.
October 2014 saw the seasonally adjusted participation rate increase 0.1 percentage points to 64.6%.
The seasonally adjusted number of employed persons increased by 24,100 in October 2014 to 11,592,200 persons following a decrease of 23,700 persons in September 2014. The increase in October was driven by full-time employment. The employment to population ratio, which expresses the number of employed persons as a percentage of the civilian population aged 15 years and over, was unchanged at 60.5% (seasonally adjusted). In trend terms, the employment to population ratio decreased 0.1 percentage points (based on unrounded estimates) to 60.6%.
Employment to population ratio, Persons, May 2013 to October 2014
Seasonally adjusted full-time employment increased by 33,400 persons to 8,058,500 persons while part-time employment decreased by 9,400 to 3,533,700 persons in October 2014. The increase in total employment resulted from:
- an increase in female full-time employment, up 26,100 persons
- an increase in male full-time employment, up 7,300 persons
- an increase in male part-time employment, up 1,000 persons
- a decrease in female part-time employment, down 10,400 persons.
Seasonally adjusted aggregate monthly hours worked increased 24.9 million hours (1.6%) in October 2014 to 1,614.4 million hours.
STATE ESTIMATES
The largest absolute increases in seasonally adjusted employment were in New South Wales (up 17,300 persons) and Western Australia (up 13,100 persons). The largest absolute decrease in seasonally adjusted employment was in Queensland (down 8,900 persons).
The largest increase in the seasonally adjusted participation rate was in Western Australia (up 0.6 percentage points).
The largest increase in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was in Queensland (up 0.7 percentage points). The largest decrease in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was in Tasmania (down 0.8 percentage points). In both cases, the trend unemployment rate may provide a better basis for analysing the underlying behaviour of the series.
Seasonally adjusted estimates are not published for the territories.
Unemployment rate, State and Territories, September 2014 and October 2014 |
|
 | Trend | Seasonally Adjusted |
| September | October | September | October |
| % | % | % | % |
|
| New South Wales | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.7 |
| Victoria | 6.8 | 6.8 | 6.8 | 6.8 |
| Queensland | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 7.0 |
| South Australia | 6.6 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 6.7 |
| Western Australia | 5.1 | 5.1 | 5.0 | 5.2 |
| Tasmania | 7.2 | 7.2 | 7.6 | 6.9 |
| Northern Territory | 4.1 | 4.0 | np | np |
| Australian Capital Territory | 5.1 | 5.4 | np | np |
| Australia | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 |
|
| np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated |
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