6292.0 - Information Paper: Forthcoming Changes to Labour Force Statistics, 2003  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 17/12/2003   
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MEDIA RELEASE

December 17, 2003
Embargoed 11:30am (AEST)
142/2003

Forthcoming changes to labour force statistics

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will be introducing a number of improvements to labour force statistics over the next few months.

The first of these improvements is to the seasonal adjustment processes used for the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The new processes will lead to better seasonally adjusted and trend estimates, and will remove some of the volatility evident in labour force statistics around major holiday periods. These processes will be introduced with the release of December 2003 LFS data, on 15 January 2004.

The second group of improvements include: (i) introduction of 2001 Census based population benchmarks (with revisions back to January 1999); (ii) improvements to regional labour force estimates by introducing regional population benchmarks; and (iii) better alignment with international standards on the treatment of 'future starters' not actively looking for work. These changes will be introduced with the release of February 2004 LFS data, on 11 March 2004.

More details on these changes are available in Information Paper: Forthcoming Changes to Labour Force Statistics (cat. no. 6292.0). This information paper is available free of charge via this web site.