Labour Force, Australia

This is not the latest release View the latest release

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

Cite
Print
Reference period
December 2020
Released
21/01/2021
View all releases

Key statistics

Seasonally adjusted estimates for December 2020:

  • Unemployment rate decreased to 6.6%.
  • Participation rate increased to 66.2%.
  • Employment increased to 12,910,800.
  • Employment to population ratio increased to 61.8%.
  • Underemployment rate decreased to 8.5%.
  • Monthly hours worked increased by 2 million hours.
    Nov-2020Dec-2020Monthly changeMonthly change (%)Yearly changeYearly change (%)
    Seasonally adjusted
    Employed people12,860,70012,910,80050,0000.4%-63,900-0.5%
    Unemployed people942,100912,000-30,100-3.2%221,70032.1%
    Unemployment rate6.8%6.6%-0.2 ptsna1.5 ptsna
    Underemployment rate9.4%8.5%-0.8 ptsna0.3 ptsna
    Participation rate66.1%66.2%0.1 ptsna0.2 ptsna
    Monthly hours worked in all jobs 1,752 million 1,753 million2 million0.1%-26 million-1.5%

    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.

    Survey impacts and changes

    Managing the impact of COVID-19 on labour force statistics

    The ABS is continuing to take active steps to manage the impacts of COVID-19 on Labour Force statistics. For more information on recent developments, refer to the Rotation group analysis.

    Survey response and timeline

    The December Labour Force Survey was run in respect of the two weeks from Sunday 29 November to Saturday 12 December, and collected over the period from Sunday 6 December to Tuesday 22 December.

    LFS COVID timeline Dec
    The following image provides a timeline of events from March to December showing LFS collection periods, headline results as well as COVID-related community and business changes and announcements. From 21st to 29th of March social distancing rules and additional shutdowns and/or restrictions were implemented including the shutdown of non-essential services beginning 22nd of March. Data was collected for the April LFS reference weeks 29th March to 11th April; collected 5th to 25th April during which the JobKeeper payment was announced.

    The ABS would like to thank Australians for their continued support in responding to our surveys during such a difficult time, given how critically important this information is.

    Continued suspension of trend estimates

    Given the extent of change in Labour Force time series, the ABS has temporarily suspended trend series and moved to using forward factors for seasonal adjustment. All estimates within the commentary, including information for the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, refer to seasonally adjusted data. For more information, please refer to 'Suspension of trend series and changes to seasonal adjustment during the COVID-19 period'.

    Seasonal Adjustment

    Starting with the April 2020 release, the ABS began using forward seasonal factors to produce seasonally adjusted Labour Force estimates. The forward factors approach is better suited to managing seasonal adjustment during a period of sustained disruption. Further information on forward factors is provided on this page describing method changes during COVID-19. A review of the Labour Force seasonal adjustment approach will be conducted before April data is published (20 May). Further information regarding this review will be available in the release of January Labour Force data, on 18 February.

    Treatment of people on JobKeeper, JobSeeker or stood down

    People paid through the JobKeeper wage subsidy, in receipt of JobSeeker payments, or stood down by their employer are classified as follows in the Labour Force Survey. This approach:

    • is consistent with the long-standing concepts and practices used in the Labour Force Survey; and
    • has not resulted in any changes to the Labour Force Survey questionnaire.

    The ABS will update this information if new scenarios emerge or the conditions of existing scenarios change over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    1. People paid through the JobKeeper wage subsidy: employed

    The ABS expects that people who are paid through the JobKeeper scheme will answer the questions in a way that results in them being classified as employed, regardless of the hours they work (e.g. even if they are stood down). People paid through JobKeeper may work less hours, the same hours, or more hours, than usual.

    Under the JobKeeper program, eligible businesses and not-for-profit organisations affected by COVID-19 can elect to receive a subsidy to support their employment of eligible employees. Some self-employed people are also eligible to receive the JobKeeper payment.

    Employers will pay these employees a wage, within their existing employment relationship, supporting an ongoing attachment to a job.

    2. People in receipt of the JobSeeker payment: it depends on their labour market activity

    People who receive the JobSeeker or other similar government payments are not automatically classified as unemployed (just as those classified as unemployed will not necessarily be in receipt of a government payment) and how they are categorised depends on how they answer questions around labour market activity.

    The JobSeeker payment is paid to people who are looking for work or are sick or injured and cannot undertake their usual work or study for a short time, and who meet the eligibility requirements. People can also receive the JobSeeker payment if they have a job, if they meet a low income test.

    Recent changes to the JobSeeker program related to COVID-19 also meant that some recipients did not have to meet the usual mutual obligation requirements, such as looking for work. As these obligations are reinstated, changes may lead to increases in active job search and an increase in the number of people classified as unemployed in future months.

    To be classified as unemployed in Labour Force statistics, a person must:

    • have actively looked for full-time or part-time work in the last four weeks; and
    • be available for work in the reference week.

    People who were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then are also classified as unemployed.

    3. People not working any hours, including those who were stood down: it depends on their job attachment and pay, and potentially other labour market activity

    A person will be classified as employed if they:

    • had taken any kind of paid leave;
    • were away from their job for any reason (e.g. they were stood down), and were paid for some part of the previous 4 weeks (which could include wages subsidised through the JobKeeper scheme); or
    • were away from their job for four weeks or less for any reason, without pay, but believe they still have a job to go back to (e.g. they were stood down, with no pay).

    If a person is away from their job for four weeks or more without pay, or they believe they no longer have a job to be absent from, they will be classified as:

    • unemployed - if they have actively looked for work, and are available to start work; or
    • not in the labour force - if they have not looked for work and/or are not available to start work.

    There will be a range of ways in which people will have been stood down without work as a result of COVID-19. Some may be stood down with pay, some through paid leave (e.g. long service leave, annual leave, etc) and some without pay. Some people will perceive that they still have a job (but just no hours at the moment), while others will consider they have lost their job. 

    These differences are effectively captured using Labour Force Survey questions, which support the ABS to effectively categorise people and produce key measures of the labour market.

    People stood down without pay from late March through to early May were away from their job for four weeks or more and therefore were no longer considered employed in May. This explains part of the further fall in employment in May.

    For further information, please email labour.statistics@abs.gov.au.

    Articles and other information

    This months Labour Force release includes additional analysis of hours worked, including for those people working zero hours for economic reasons (see Insights into hours worked), and Underemployment (see Underemployment: Reduced hours or prefers more hours). For a list of previously published LFS articles, see the Article archive.

    Additional spreadsheets and pivot tables are published in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed one week after this release, while longitudinal labour force microdata are released in the ABS DataLab, one day after the detailed release (see Microdata: Longitudinal Labour Force, Australia).

    Unemployment

    In seasonally adjusted terms, in December 2020:

    • The unemployment rate decreased 0.2 pts to 6.6% (1.5 pts higher than a year ago)
    • Unemployed people decreased by 30,100 to 912,000 (and increased by 221,700 over the year to December 2020)
    • The youth unemployment rate decreased 1.7 pts to 13.9% (and increased by 2.3 pts over the year to December 2020)

    Employment

    In seasonally adjusted terms, in December 2020:

    • Employment increased by 50,000 people (0.4%) to 12,910,800 people
    • Over the year to December 2020, employment decreased by 0.5% or 63,900 people

    Flows into and out of employment

    Underpinning this net increase in the number of employed people are extensive flows of people into and out of employment. Around 500,000 people entered employment (i.e. they were not employed in November but were employed in December), while around 390,000 people left employment (i.e. they were employed in November but were not employed in December). This contrasts with the previous month, where around 530,000 people entered employment and around 360,000 people left employment.

    Note: As the inflows and outflows analysis is based on the matched sample (around 80% of the sample), and the original employment growth is based on the entire sample and the latest months weight, the (net) sum of the inflows and outflows does not necessarily equal the 'net' employment growth.

    The following diagram shows the proportion of people moving between employment, unemployment and not in the labour force between November and December (based on the matched sample). It shows that:

    • 97% of people employed in November were also employed in December (with 1% moving to unemployment and 2% to not in the labour force)
    • 61% of people unemployed in November were also unemployed in December (with 22% moving to employment and 17% to not in the labour force)
    • 93% of people not in the labour force in November were also not in the labour force in December (with 4% moving to employment and 3% to unemployment)

    Flows in labour force status, November to December

    Flows in labour force status, November to December

    Full-time and part-time employment

    In seasonally adjusted terms, in December 2020:

    • Full-time employment increased by 35,700 to 8,761,400 people, and part-time employment increased by 14,300 to 4,149,300 people
    • Over the year to December 2020, full-time employment decreased by 75,900 people and part-time employment increased by 12,000 people
    • The part-time share of employment over the past 12 months, increased 0.3 pts to 32.1%

     

    Employment-to-population ratio

    In seasonally adjusted terms, in December 2020:

    • The employment-to-population ratio increased by 0.2 pts to 61.8%, and decreased by 0.8 pts from the same time last year

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

    Hours worked

    In seasonally adjusted terms, in December 2020, monthly hours worked in all jobs:

    • Increased by 1.686 million hours (0.1%) to 1,753 million hours
    • Decreased by 1.5% over the year, which is larger than the 0.5% decrease in employed people

    See the article Insights into hours worked for more.

    Participation

    In seasonally adjusted terms, in December 2020, the participation rate:

    • Increased by 0.1 pts to 66.2%, and increased 0.2 pts over the year to December 2020
    • Increased by 0.1 pts for men (to 71.1%) and remained at 61.4% for women

    Underemployment

    In seasonally adjusted terms, in December 2020:

    • The underemployment rate decreased by 0.8 pts to 8.5% (0.3 pts higher than a year ago)
    • The underutilisation rate decreased by 1.1 pts to 15.1%

    See the article Underemployment: Reduced hours or prefers more hours for more.

    States and territories

    December 2020, Seasonally adjusted
    New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
    Employed people4,076,4003,385,8002,579,900852,4001,379,900254,100129,200238,70012,910,800
    Employed people - monthly change-0.4%0.4%1.4%-0.1%0.0%0.3%0.7%-1.5%0.4%
    Employment to population ratio61.4%61.7%61.7%58.6%64.3%56.8%68.5%69.5%61.8%
    Employment to population ratio - monthly change-0.3 pts0.2 pts0.8 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts0.5 pts-1.1 pts0.2 pts
    Unemployment rate6.4%6.5%7.5%6.4%6.2%7.0%5.4%3.7%6.6%
    Unemployment rate - monthly change-0.1 pts-0.6 pts-0.2 pts0.2 pts-0.1 pts-0.9 pts-0.5 pts-0.3 pts-0.2 pts
    Underemployment rate8.4%9.0%8.6%10.4%7.7%9.8%6.4%6.0%8.5%
    Underemployment rate - monthly change-0.4 pts-1.6 pts-0.8 pts-0.3 pts-0.3 pts-0.5 pts0.4 pts0.3 pts-0.8 pts
    Participation rate65.5%66.0%66.7%62.5%68.6%61.1%72.4%72.2%66.2%
    Participation rate - monthly change-0.4 pts-0.2 pts0.7 pts0.1 pts-0.1 pts-0.4 pts0.1 pts-1.3 pts0.1 pts

    Rotation group analysis

    Sample composition and rotation

    The Labour Force Survey sample can be thought of as comprising eight sub-samples (rotation groups), with each sub-sample remaining in the survey for eight months, and one group "rotating out" each month and being replaced by a new group "rotating in". As seven-eighths of the sample are common from one month to the next, changes in the estimates reflect real changes in the labour market, rather than changes in the sample. The replacement sample is generally selected from the same geographic areas as the outgoing one, as part of a representative sampling approach.

    The sample comprises three components:

    • the matched common sample (people who responded in both the current month and previous month)
    • the unmatched common sample (people who responded in the current month but who did not respond in the previous month, or vice versa)
    • the incoming rotation group (replacing people who rotated out)

    The matched common sample describes the change observed for the same respondents in the current and previous month, while the other two components reflect differences between the aggregate labour force status of different groups of people.

    While the rotation groups are designed to be representative of the population, the outgoing and incoming rotation groups will almost always have somewhat different characteristics, as they reflect different households and people. The design of the survey, including the weighting and estimation processes, ensures that these differences are generally relatively minor and do not affect the representativeness of the survey and its estimates. Monthly estimates are designed to be representative, regardless of the relative contribution of the three components of the sample.

    The contributions of the three sample components to the original estimates of employed, unemployed and not in the labour force are in the Contribution from sample components to estimates spreadsheet.
     

    Estimates for the incoming and outgoing rotation groups

    Incoming and outgoing rotation groups
    November outgoing rotation groupDecember incoming rotation groupDecember outgoing rotation groupDecember estimate (Original)
    Employment to population ratio61.3%64.2%60.9%62.4%
    Full-time employment to population ratio41.3%44.4%40.5%42.6%
    Unemployment rate5.4%6.6%5.3%6.3%
    Participation rate64.8%68.7%64.2%66.6%

    States and territories

    In addition to analysis across the entire sample, the ABS also undertakes similar analysis for the responding sample in each state and territory each month, and highlights where there is a notable change for users to be aware of. For example, in November 2020, the incoming rotation group in Queensland had a higher unemployment rate than the group it replaced, and had a higher unemployment rate than the average over the matched sample. As with any notable month-to-month movement of this nature in state and territory estimates, the ABS recommends exercising a degree of caution in interpreting short-term changes.

    As for its reporting for the entire sample, where the ABS has not highlighted a notable incoming rotation group effect, any larger changes should therefore be considered to reflect a broader change across the sample.

    Managing COVID-19 impacts on the incoming rotation groups

    In response to COVID-19 and the suspension of face-to-face interviewing, the ABS has boosted the size of sample for the incoming rotation groups from June 2020 onwards to around the same level as pre-COVID-19 rotation groups. This has ensured a comparable level of fully responding households to the pre-COVID period.

    Between April and September additional weighting treatments were used to effectively account for a slightly higher level of non-response. No such treatment was required in October, November or December, with the response patterns returning close to the pre-COVID period.

    Comparability with seasonally adjusted data

    The gross flows and rotation group data are in original terms only, and are included to provide additional information on the month-to-month movements. They have a considerable level of inherent sampling variability, which is specifically adjusted for in the seasonally adjusted series.

    While trend data usually provides the best measure of the underlying behaviour of the labour market, in times of large changes in the labour market, seasonally adjusted data provides a better estimate of the most recent months. The ABS has temporarily suspended the trend series until labour market indicators become more stable, see Suspension of trend series and changes to seasonal adjustment during the COVID-19 period.

    Contribution from sample components to estimates

    Data files
    Download xls [99.5 KB]

    Data downloads

    Labour Force Survey results are released in three stages.

    1. Spreadsheets of the headline indicators are published in this release
    2. Additional, more detailed spreadsheets and pivot tables are published in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed one week after this first release
    3. Longitudinal labour force microdata are released in the ABS DataLab on a monthly basis, one day after the detailed release (see Microdata: Longitudinal Labour Force, Australia)

    See the Survey output section of Labour Force, Australia methodology for more information.

    Labour Force status

    Data files

    • Table 1. Labour force status by Sex, Australia - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

      Download xls [6.95 MB]

    • Table 4. Labour force status by Sex, New South Wales - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

      Download xls [4.26 MB]

    • Table 5. Labour force status by Sex, Victoria - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

      Download xls [4.27 MB]

    • Table 6. Labour force status by Sex, Queensland - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

      Download xls [4.29 MB]

    • Table 7. Labour force status by Sex, South Australia - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

      Download xls [4.3 MB]

    • Table 8. Labour force status by Sex, Western Australia - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

      Download xls [4.3 MB]

    • Table 9. Labour force status by Sex, Tasmania - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

      Download xls [4.5 MB]

    • Table 10. Labour force status by Sex, Northern Territory - Trend and Original

      Download xls [5.13 MB]

    • Table 10a. Labour force status by Sex, Northern Territory - Seasonally adjusted

      Download xls [277 KB]

    • Table 11. Labour force status by Sex, Australian Capital Territory - Trend and Original

      Download xls [4.43 MB]

    • Table 11a. Labour force status by Sex, Australian Capital Territory - Seasonally adjusted

      Download xls [277 KB]

    • Table 12. Labour force status by Sex, State and Territory - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

      Download xls [41.92 MB]

    • Table 12a. Labour force status by Sex, Territory - Seasonally adjusted

      Download xls [482.5 KB]

    • Table 13. Labour force status for 15-24 year olds by Sex - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

      Download xls [6.95 MB]

    • Table 15. Labour force status for 15-24 year olds by Educational attendance (full-time) and Sex

      Download xls [1.6 MB]

    • Table 16. Labour force status for 15-24 year olds by State, Territory and Educational attendance (full-time)

      Download xls [8.49 MB]

    • Table 17. Labour force status for 15-19 year olds by Sex - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

      Download xls [5.33 MB]

    • Table 18. Labour force status for 15-64 year olds by Sex - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

      Download xls [6.94 MB]

    Hours worked

    Data files

    • Table 19. Monthly hours worked in all jobs by Employed full-time, part-time and Sex and by State and Territory - Trend and Seasonally adjusted

      Download xls [3.09 MB]

    • Table 19a. Monthly hours worked in all jobs by Employed full-time, part-time and Sex and Territory - Seasonally adjusted

      Download xls [94.5 KB]

    • Table 21. Quarterly hours worked in all jobs by Market and Non-market sector - Seasonally adjusted

      Download xls [82.5 KB]

    Underemployment and underutilisation

    Data files

    • Table 22. Underutilised persons by Age and Sex - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

      Download xls [46.02 MB]

    • Table 23. Underutilised persons by State and Territory and Sex - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original

      Download xls [62.2 MB]

    • Table 23a. Underutilised persons by Territory and Sex - Seasonally adjusted

      Download xls [719 KB]

    • Table 24. Underutilised persons by Age and Sex (expanded analytical series)

      Download xls [792 KB]

    • Table 25. Underutilised persons by State, Territory and Sex (expanded analytical series)

      Download xls [660 KB]

    Flows into and out of employment

    GM1 - Labour force status and Gross changes (flows) by Age, Sex, State and Territory, February 1991 onwards

    Data files
    Download xlsx [96.83 MB]

    All time series spreadsheets

    All time series spreadsheets

    Data files
    Download zip [41.93 MB]

    Article archive

    Understanding the labour force

    Understanding differences between Labour Force employment statistics and Weekly Payroll Jobs (April 2020)

    Classifying people during the COVID-19 period (March 2020)

    Labour Force Explained (September 2017)

    Understanding the Australian labour force using ABS statistics (December 2013)

    Understanding full-time / part-time status in the Labour Force Survey (September 2013)

    Employment level estimates versus employment to population ratio explained (January 2012)

    Employment and jobs

    Insights into casual employment, occupation and industry (November 2020)

    Strong employment growth for non-employees (August 2020)

    State and territory employment and hours worked (August 2020)

    Employment and unemployment: An International Perspective (August 2020)

    Flows into and out of employment and unemployment (June 2020)

    Insights into industry and occupation (May 2020)

    Employment and unemployment: An international perspective (May 2020)

    Employment and unemployment: An international perspective (April 2020)

    People moving into or out of employment or unemployment every month (March 2020)

    How many people work one hour a week (January 2019)

    Leave entitlements (November 2015)

    Duration of employment (November 2015)

    Sector of main job (November 2015)

    Estimating jobs in the Australian labour market (February 2013)

    Employment in mining in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia (May 2012)

    Unemployment and underemployment

    Employment and unemployment: An International Perspective (August 2020)

    Understanding unemployment and the loss of work during the COVID-19 period: An Australian and international perspective (July 2020)

    Flows into and out of employment and unemployment (June 2020)

    Employment and unemployment: An International Perspective (June 2020)

    People who lost a job or were stood down: flows analysis (May 2020)

    Employment and unemployment: An international perspective (May 2020)

    Hours not worked - Hours-based measures of unemployment and underemployment (May 2020)

    People who lost a job or were stood down: Flows analysis (April 2020)

    Reasons people are not in the labour force (April 2020)

    Employment and unemployment: An international perspective (April 2020)

    Underemployment in Australia (September 2018)

    Spotlight on underemployment (November 2016)

    Measures of underemployment and underutilisation (November 2015)

    Full-time and part-time job search (November 2015)

    Hours-based measures of unemployment and underemployment (November 2015)

    Retrenchment (November 2015)

    Did you know - Underemployment (June 2013)

    Exploring labour force data on joblessness (February 2012)

    Hours worked

    Insights into hours worked (November 2020)

    Insights into hours worked (October 2020)

    Insights into hours worked (September 2020)

    Insights into hours worked (August 2020)

    State and territory employment and hours worked (August 2020)

    Insights into hours worked (July 2020)

    Insights into hours worked (June 2020)

    Hours not worked - Hours-based measures of unemployment and underemployment (May 2020)

    Insights into hours worked (May 2020)

    People working fewer hours (April 2020)

    Insights into hours worked (April 2020)

    Reasons for working fewer hours (March 2020)

    Insights into hours worked (March 2020)

    Insights into detailed Labour Force Survey hours worked data (February 2020)

    Revisions to monthly hours worked in all jobs (July 2016)

    Regional estimates

    Impacts on the Australian labour market: A regional perspective (April 2020)

    Advice on reporting regional labour force data (December 2017)

    Analysis of changes to Labour Force regional estimates (February 2014)

    LFS content and output

    ABS Labour Statistics: A broad range of information (July 2019)

    500th issue of 6202.0 (January 2018)

    Labour Force Survey pivot tables (August 2017)

    Expanded education data from the Labour Force Survey (August 2016)

    Change to Status in Employment output (July 2015)

    Forthcoming improvements to the content of the Labour Force and Labour Supplementary Surveys (January 2013)

    Upcoming changes to the Labour Force Survey (July 2012)

    Labour Household Surveys content review (June 2012)

    Methodology

    Improvement to the trending method for Labour Force rates and ratios (October 2019)

    Assessing volatility in Labour Force statistics (July 2019)

    On-line collection in the Labour Force Survey (April 2019)

    Annual seasonal re-analysis (March 2019)

    Improvements to trend estimation (March 2018)

    Major re-benchmarking of Labour Force series (October 2017)

    Changes to filter lengths used in labour statistics (February 2017)

    Update on recommendation 7 from the independent technical review (November 2015)

    Progress with recommendations from the independent technical review (July 2015)

    Update on recommendations 10 and 11 from the independent technical review (June 2015)

    Update on recommendation 7 from the independent technical review (May 2015)

    Update on recommendations from the independent technical review (March 2015)

    Rebenchmarking Labour Force estimates (February 2015)

    Independent technical review into the Labour Force Survey (November 2014)

    Removing the effect of supplementary surveys from seasonally adjusted estimates (October 2014)

    Rebenchmarking Labour Force estimates to the 2011 Census (January 2014)

    New Labour Force sample design (May 2013)

    Transition to online collection of the Labour Force survey (April 2013)

    Rebenchmarking of Labour Force series (November 2012)

    Population benchmarks and Labour Force Survey (April 2012)

    Historical revisions (February 2011)

    Impact of the floods on the Labour Force Survey (January 2011)

    Previous catalogue number

    This release previously used catalogue number 6202.0.

    Methodology

    Labour Force, Australia methodology, December 2020

    Articles

    Media releases