LABOUR FORCE


CONTENTS

Employed persons

Unemployment

Participation rate


EMPLOYED PERSONS

In trend terms, the total number of persons employed in South Australia in September 2009 remained steady at 792,100. The total number of persons employed in Australia in September 2009 was 10,786,000, an increase of 4,700 on the number employed in August 2009 (10,781,300).

The number of males employed full-time in South Australia in September 2009 was 342,200 (in trend terms), a marginal decrease of 0.3% from the previous month (343,300). Looking at the composition of all male employees, those working full time accounted for 80.7% of the male workforce, down from 84.5% in September 2008. The number of females employed full-time in South Australia also fell between August and September 2009, from 183,600 to 182,800. Full-time female employees accounted for 49.6% of the female workforce in September 2009, down from 50.6% in September of the previous year.


UNEMPLOYMENT

The trend estimate unemployment rates for South Australia and Australia in September 2009 were 5.7% and 5.8% respectively. Although the gap is closing, South Australia's trend unemployment rate continues to be lower than the national rate.

In September 2009 the trend unemployment rates for males and females in South Australia were 6.3% and 5.0% respectively. Over the last four months female unemployment has been growing at a slightly faster rate than male unemployment.

PARTICIPATION RATE

The trend estimate of the participation rate for South Australia held steady at 63.3% between August and September 2009. Australia's trend participation rate fell slightly to 65.1% over the same period.

For South Australia, after having been relatively stable for the previous three months, the trend participation rate for males rose to 69.6% in September 2009. This upward movement is the first observed since October 2008. The Australian participation rate for males remained at 72.1% for the third consecutive month. The participation rate for South Australian females continued to decline falling to 57.2% in September 2009. The Australian female participation rate held steady at 58.4%.