Labour Force, Australia, Detailed

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Detailed monthly and quarterly Labour Force Survey data, including hours, regions, families, job search, job duration, casual, industry and occupation

Reference period
October 2021
Released
18/11/2021

Data from the monthly Labour Force Survey are released in two stages:

  1. Labour Force, Australia - which contains headline estimates of employment, unemployment, underemployment, participation and hours worked
  2. Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - which contains detailed data not included in the first release

This second release of Labour Force Survey data includes the latest detailed monthly and quarterly data. Some information, including industry, occupation, sector, job duration, and retrenchment, is only available for February, May, August and November.

As a result, in the 'non-quarter' months, the quarterly spreadsheets and datacubes have a different reference period. For example, the May issue contains May monthly and May quarterly data, while the July issue will contain July monthly and May quarterly data.

For more information on the data contained in the first and second releases, see the Survey output section of the Labour Force Survey Methodology page.

Using regional labour force data

Annual averages are important for understanding the current state of the labour market, and providing medium and long-term signals.

However, unusual, sudden and/or extreme changes in the labour market (e.g. changes to regular and seasonal patterns in employment, working hours, job search or availability as a result of COVID-19) can be difficult to account for in the short-term using a 12 month moving average. The application of an annual average to the original regional estimates in Table 16b is unlikely to accurately or quickly detect turning points in the time series during periods of significant change, which should be considered before drawing any conclusions from these estimates.

For advice on reporting data from our regional labour force products (Pivot tables RM1, RM3 and Tables 16, 16B, 16C) see Advice on reporting regional labour force data.

Changes to Excel file format on the ABS website

In line with updating to more recent technology formats, the ABS will progressively transition to releasing Excel files in the .XLSX format. This means that timeseries spreadsheets in the suite of labour statistics releases will be progressively upgraded from .XLS files to .XLSX files.

While this change will improve usability, it may also require changes to automated macros or similar programs that users may have in place that call on the current file extension format.

The Excel files in the next release of the Labour Force, Australia, Detailed data on 23 December 2021 will be in .XLSX format following the changes implemented in the Labour Force, Australia publication on 16 December 2021. Previously released data will not change.

Changes will be reflected in other labour statistics from the following dates:

  • Characteristics of Employment, to be released on 14 December 2021
  • Employee Earnings, to be released on 14 December 2021
  • Working arrangements, to be released on 14 December 2021
  • Job Vacancies, to be released on 12 January 2022
  • Employee Earnings and Hours, to be released on 19 January 2022
  • Average Weekly Earnings, to be released on 24 February 2022
  • Labour Account, to be released on 9 March 2022
  • Industrial Disputes, to be released on 10 March 2022

Some labour statistics, such as Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia, already publish Excel data in .XLSX format. No changes will be required for those releases.

Labour force status

Monthly (October)

Data files

Quarterly (August)

Data files

Industry, Occupation and Sector

Quarterly (August)

Data files

Hours worked

Monthly (October)

Data files

Unemployment

Monthly (October)

Data files

Quarterly (August)

Data files

Underemployment and underutilisation

Quarterly (August)

Data files

Status in employment

Monthly (October)

Data files

Quarterly (August)

Data files

Labour market regions (SA4)

Monthly (October)

Data files

Quarterly (August)

Data files

Relationship in household

Monthly (October)

Data files

Current and expected job duration

Quarterly (August)

Data files

Retrenchment

Quarterly (August)

Data files

Not in the labour force

Monthly (October)

Data files

All data downloads

All monthly time series spreadsheets

All monthly pivot tables

All quarterly time series spreadsheets

All quarterly pivot tables

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue numbers:

  • 6291.0.55.001; and 
  • 6291.0.55.003.
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