Labour Force, Australia

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Headline estimates of employment, unemployment, underemployment, participation and hours worked from the monthly Labour Force Survey

Reference period
August 2023
Released
14/09/2023

Key statistics

In trend terms, in August 2023:

  • unemployment rate remained at 3.7%.
  • participation rate increased to 67.0%.
  • employment increased to 14,096,100.
  • employment to population ratio remained at 64.5%.
  • underemployment rate increased to 6.5%.
  • monthly hours worked increased to 1,954 million.

In seasonally adjusted terms, in August 2023:

  • unemployment rate remained at 3.7%.
  • participation rate increased to 67.0%.
  • employment increased to 14,107,900.
  • employment to population ratio increased to 64.5%.
  • underemployment rate increased to 6.6%.
  • monthly hours worked decreased to 1,941 million.
  • full-time employment increased by 2,800 to 9,849,800 people.
  • part-time employment increased by 62,100 to 4,258,100 people.
Key statistics - Trend
Jul-2023Aug-2023Monthly changeMonthly change (%)Yearly changeYearly change (%)
Employed people14,067,80014,096,10028,3000.2%399,7002.9%
Unemployed people532,900539,7006,8001.3%43,5008.8%
Unemployment rate3.7%3.7%0.0 ptsna0.2 ptsna
Underemployment rate6.4%6.5%0.0 ptsna0.5 ptsna
Participation rate66.9%67.0%0.0 ptsna0.3 ptsna
Monthly hours worked in all jobs 1,951 million 1,954 million3 million0.2%86 million4.6%
Key statistics - Seasonally adjusted
Jul-2023Aug-2023Monthly changeMonthly change (%)Yearly changeYearly change (%)
Employed people14,043,00014,107,90064,9000.5%410,7003.0%
Unemployed people543,200540,500-2,600-0.5%42,6008.5%
Unemployment rate3.7%3.7%0.0 ptsna0.2 ptsna
Underemployment rate6.4%6.6%0.2 ptsna0.6 ptsna
Participation rate66.9%67.0%0.1 ptsna0.3 ptsna
Monthly hours worked in all jobs 1,950 million 1,941 million-9 million-0.5%68 million3.7%

Estimates of changes throughout this release are calculated using un-rounded level estimates and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements obtained from the rounded level estimates.

For definitions of labour statistics used in this publication, please refer to Glossary of Labour Force, Australia methodology.

Survey impacts and changes

Articles and other information

As Labour Force hours worked data have returned to more usual patterns, the ABS ceased publishing the pandemic-related article ‘insights into hours worked’ with the April 2023 publication, but has continued to publish data cubes EM2a and EM2b in Labour Force, Australia. From the September 2023 release and onwards, the ABS will revert to only releasing these two data cubes in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed.

Quarterly rebenchmarking of labour force statistics

New Labour Force Survey sample commences in September

Upcoming improvements to Labour Force estimation method

Enhanced regional labour market data

Survey response and timeline

Unemployment

In trend terms, in August 2023:

  • unemployment rate remained at 3.7%.
  • unemployed people increased by 6,800 to 539,700. 
  • youth unemployment rate remained at 8.2%.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, August 2023.

Employment

In trend terms, in August 2023, employment increased by 28,300 people (0.2%) to 14,096,100 people.

Flows into and out of employment

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, August 2023.

Full-time and part-time employment

In trend terms, in August 2023:

  • full-time employment increased by 14,000 to 9,878,000 people, and part-time employment increased by 14,300 to 4,218,100 people.
  • part-time share of employment was 29.9%.

 

Employment-to-population ratio

In trend terms, in August 2023, the employment-to-population ratio remained at 64.5%.

The employment-to-population ratio provides a measure of employment relative to the size of the population.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, August 2023.

Hours worked

In trend terms, in August 2023, monthly hours worked in all jobs increased by 3.3 million hours (0.2%) to 1,954 million hours.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, August 2023.

Participation

In trend terms, in August 2023, the participation rate:

  • increased to 67.0%.
  • increased to 71.6% for men and remained at 62.5% for women.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, August 2023.

Underemployment

In trend terms, in August 2023:

  • underemployment rate increased to 6.5%.
  • underutilisation rate increased to 10.2%.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, August 2023.

States and Territories

August 2023 - Trend
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed people4,373,6003,658,9002,849,700955,3001,561,100289,100138,100265,90014,096,100
Employed people - monthly change0.2%0.3%0.2%0.2%0.3%-0.1%-0.3%0.3%0.2%
Employment to population ratio64.0%65.2%63.7%62.0%66.5%60.0%70.2%70.5%64.5%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts-0.1 pts-0.3 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts
Unemployment rate3.3%3.6%4.1%3.9%3.6%4.4%3.7%3.2%3.7%
Unemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts
Underemployment rate6.3%6.4%6.8%7.7%6.0%6.9%4.0%4.4%6.5%
Underemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts-0.1 pts0.1 pts-0.3 pts0.0 pts
Participation rate66.2%67.6%66.5%64.4%69.1%62.8%72.9%72.9%67.0%
Participation rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts-0.2 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts
August 2023 - Seasonally adjusted
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed people4,373,7003,653,0002,847,100958,2001,565,900289,200138,000267,30014,107,900
Employed people - monthly change0.6%-0.1%0.5%0.6%0.9%1.1%0.1%1.4%0.5%
Employment to population ratio64.0%65.1%63.6%62.1%66.7%60.0%70.2%70.8%64.5%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change0.2 pts-0.2 pts0.1 pts0.3 pts0.4 pts0.6 pts0.0 pts0.8 pts0.1 pts
Unemployment rate3.6%3.5%4.1%3.6%3.8%4.4%4.3%3.1%3.7%
Unemployment rate - monthly change0.3 pts-0.1 pts-0.3 pts-0.4 pts0.3 pts-0.3 pts0.5 pts-0.6 pts0.0 pts
Underemployment rate6.4%6.6%7.0%7.9%5.9%6.8%4.2%3.7%6.6%
Underemployment rate - monthly change0.3 pts0.3 pts0.1 pts0.3 pts0.1 pts-0.5 pts0.9 pts-1.2 pts0.2 pts
Participation rate66.3%67.5%66.4%64.4%69.3%62.8%73.3%73.1%67.0%
Participation rate - monthly change0.4 pts-0.3 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.7 pts0.4 pts0.4 pts0.3 pts0.1 pts

Historical charts

Historical charts for employed, unemployed, unemployment rate and participation rate from August 1966 to August 2023