JANUARY KEY FIGURES

		Dec 2011	Jan 2012	Dec 11 to Jan 12		Jan 11 to Jan 12
Trend
	Employed persons ('000)	11 446.8	11 448.5	1.7		0.2	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	627.5	623.7	-3.8		3.3	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.2	5.2	0.0	pts	0.1	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.3	65.3	-0.1	pts	-0.5	pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Employed persons ('000)	11 417.5	11 463.9	46.3		0.3	%
	Unemployed persons ('000)	629.5	614.2	-15.3		1.0	%
	Unemployment rate (%)	5.2	5.1	-0.1	pts	0.0	pts
	Participation rate (%)	65.2	65.3	0.1	pts	-0.6	pts

Employed Persons

Unemployment Rate

JANUARY KEY POINTS


TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased to 11,448,500.
• Unemployment decreased to 623,700.
• Unemployment rate steady at 5.2%.
• Participation rate at 65.3%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked decreased to 1,607.0 million hours.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)

• Employment increased 46,300 (0.4%) to 11,463,900. Full-time employment increased 12,300 persons to 8,063,100 and part-time employment increased 34,000 persons to 3,400,800.
• Unemployment decreased 15,300 (2.4%) to 614,200. The number of persons looking for part-time work decreased 3,000 to 175,200 and the number of persons looking for full-time work decreased 12,300 to 439,000.
• The unemployment rate decreased 0.1 pts to 5.1%. The male unemployment rate decreased 0.1 pts to 4.9% and the female unemployment rate decreased 0.2 pts to 5.3%.
• The participation rate increased 0.1 pts to 65.3%.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked decreased 23.1 million hours to 1,593.9 million hours.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
February 2012	8 March 2012
March 2012	12 April 2012
April 2012	10 May 2012
May 2012	7 June 2012
June 2012	12 July 2012
July 2012	9 August 2012

CHANGES THIS MONTH

Usually in January, estimates are published 32 days after the commencement of interviews. This month, estimates are published 39 days after the commencement of interviews due to operational issues. There has been no change to the standard pattern of interviewing which started on the 8th of January for a reference period, 1st of January to the 14th of January.


ROUNDING

Estimates of monthly change shown on the front cover have been calculated using unrounded estimates, and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements obtained from the rounded estimates. The graphs on the front cover also depict unrounded estimates.


SAMPLING ERROR

The estimates in this publication are based on a sample survey. Published estimates and the movements derived from them are subject to sampling variability. Standard errors give a measure of sampling variability (see pages 34 and 35). The interval bounded by two standard errors is the 95% confidence interval, which provides a way of looking at the variability inherent in estimates. There is a 95% chance that the true value of the estimate lies within that interval.

MOVEMENTS IN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED SERIES BETWEEN DECEMBER 2011 AND JANUARY 2012
	Monthly change	95% Confidence interval
Total Employment	46 300	-8 700	to	101 300
Total Unemployment	-15 300	-47 500	to	16 900
Unemployment rate	-0.1 pts	-0.3 pts	to	0.1 pts
Participation rate	0.1 pts	-0.3 pts	to	0.5 pts

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070, email client.services@abs.gov.au or Labour Force on Canberra (02) 6252 6525, email labourforce@abs.gov.au.