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Key statistics

Trend estimates for July 2019:

  • Unemployment rate increased to 5.3%.
  • Participation rate increased to 66.1%.
  • Employment increased to 12,915,200.
  • Underemployment rate remained steady at 8.4%.
  • Employment to population ratio remained steady at 62.6%.
    June 2019 July 2019 Monthly change Yearly change 
Trend Employed persons  12,890,600 12,915,200 0.2% 2.7%
Unemployed persons 709,000 715,600 0.9% 1.6%
Unemployment rate 5.2% 5.3% 0.0 pts 0.0 pts
Underemployment rate 8.4% 8.4% 0.0 pts 0.0 pts
Participation rate 66.0% 66.1% 0.1 pts 0.6 pts
Monthly hours worked in all jobs 1,776m 1,777m 0.0% 1.8%
Seasonally adjusted Employed persons 12,867,000 12,908,200 0.3% 2.6%
Unemployed persons 712,100 712,900 0.9% 2.0%
Unemployment rate 5.2% 5.2% 0.0 pts 0.0 pts
Underemployment rate 8.2% 8.4% 0.2 pts 0.0 pts
Participation rate 66.0% 66.1% 0.1 pts 0.5 pts
Monthly hours worked in all jobs 1,771m 1,780m 0.5% 2.0%

All data are Trend unless otherwise stated. The trend series smooths the more volatile seasonally adjusted estimates and prove the best measure of the underlying behaviour of the labour market.

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

Unemployment

In July 2019: 

  • the unemployment rate increased by less than 0.1 pts to 5.3%, the same level as a year ago
  • unemployed people increased by 6,600 to 715,600, and increased by 11,500 over the year to July 2019
  • for 15 to 24 year olds, the unemployment rate remained steady at 12.0%, an increase of 0.7 pts since July last year

In seasonally adjusted terms, in July 2019:

  • the unemployment rate remained steady at 5.2%, the same level as a year ago
  • unemployed people increased by 800 to 712,900, and increased by 14,000 over the year to July 2019
  • for 15 to 24 year olds, the unemployment rate remained steady at 11.9% in July, an increase of 0.8 pts since July last year

Unemployment rate
Trend Seasonally adjusted
Jul-09 5.7810447 5.6713925
Aug-09 5.7467164 5.7048003
Sep-09 5.6879289 5.6603101
Oct-09 5.6152285 5.6239806
Nov-09 5.5406534 5.5588448
Dec-09 5.4812647 5.4914507
Jan-10 5.4328469 5.2665676
Feb-10 5.3983329 5.3075492
Mar-10 5.3724383 5.4230238
Apr-10 5.3385261 5.4999448
May-10 5.2937571 5.2299159
Jun-10 5.2443872 5.1454615
Jul-10 5.1956389 5.2862633
Aug-10 5.1521125 5.0211666
Sep-10 5.1200842 5.0535219
Oct-10 5.0958025 5.2862315
Nov-10 5.0717787 5.1088237
Dec-10 5.0445568 4.8766234
Jan-11 5.0176566 5.0039384
Feb-11 4.9919923 4.9857655
Mar-11 4.973612 4.9253735
Apr-11 4.9756237 4.959738
May-11 4.9987925 5.0135277
Jun-11 5.0397651 4.9176465
Jul-11 5.1024302 5.08941
Aug-11 5.1739821 5.2560675
Sep-11 5.2319105 5.2217131
Oct-11 5.2652868 5.1897568
Nov-11 5.2668665 5.2296896
Dec-11 5.2383918 5.1956706
Jan-12 5.1977112 5.0472177
Feb-12 5.160962 5.2139872
Mar-12 5.1373642 5.1800343
Apr-12 5.1347882 4.9933301
May-12 5.1576145 5.200567
Jun-12 5.1963309 5.1644503
Jul-12 5.2409853 5.1769767
Aug-12 5.2830598 5.1438133
Sep-12 5.3172547 5.4890342
Oct-12 5.3414003 5.4140804
Nov-12 5.3655887 5.2550024
Dec-12 5.3991046 5.4308564
Jan-13 5.4423608 5.3879689
Feb-13 5.4928265 5.4276314
Mar-13 5.5479998 5.6336674
Apr-13 5.5971878 5.5856503
May-13 5.6371139 5.6098525
Jun-13 5.6705 5.6976907
Jul-13 5.7038598 5.6269367
Aug-13 5.7378061 5.8233056
Sep-13 5.7761085 5.7060227
Oct-13 5.8124737 5.8284113
Nov-13 5.8371102 5.7947072
Dec-13 5.8462853 5.8981235
Jan-14 5.8415736 5.9358661
Feb-14 5.8364527 5.9076852
Mar-14 5.8453376 5.8655369
Apr-14 5.874597 5.8012223
May-14 5.9314832 5.9283923
Jun-14 6.0107722 6.0501638
Jul-14 6.0977137 6.171113
Aug-14 6.1768397 6.09237
Sep-14 6.2367921 6.2256585
Oct-14 6.2685262 6.3706057
Nov-14 6.2746752 6.2947303
Dec-14 6.2569221 6.0989115
Jan-15 6.2206927 6.3426715
Feb-15 6.1771969 6.1168365
Mar-15 6.1370866 6.0886849
Apr-15 6.1108123 6.1087343
May-15 6.0953026 5.9295902
Jun-15 6.0843948 6.009989
Jul-15 6.067031 6.2701644
Aug-15 6.0383194 6.0935795
Sep-15 5.9952214 6.1602799
Oct-15 5.9410867 5.928593
Nov-15 5.8787226 5.8483304
Dec-15 5.8159805 5.7331104
Jan-16 5.7616584 6.0297135
Feb-16 5.7180544 5.6689742
Mar-16 5.6868874 5.6396825
Apr-16 5.668793 5.6418309
May-16 5.6552062 5.718574
Jun-16 5.6432562 5.6963038
Jul-16 5.6369426 5.6875856
Aug-16 5.6388042 5.6156403
Sep-16 5.6475758 5.6409592
Oct-16 5.6742566 5.5964843
Nov-16 5.716787 5.7545164
Dec-16 5.7600435 5.8150134
Jan-17 5.7846674 5.6925594
Feb-17 5.7828823 5.8334111
Mar-17 5.7545318 5.8400947
Apr-17 5.7079428 5.6145698
May-17 5.654583 5.5399183
Jun-17 5.5991559 5.6003551
Jul-17 5.5455329 5.5836096
Aug-17 5.5027746 5.5222241
Sep-17 5.4771915 5.4414222
Oct-17 5.4656525 5.3801182
Nov-17 5.4686525 5.4077348
Dec-17 5.487145 5.5875042
Jan-18 5.5086681 5.5191898
Feb-18 5.5181521 5.5528253
Mar-18 5.5053378 5.5037248
Apr-18 5.4700551 5.5367839
May-18 5.4172565 5.3929136
Jun-18 5.3574573 5.3221479
Jul-18 5.2936288 5.2791204
Aug-18 5.2258528 5.2767195
Sep-18 5.1576104 5.0044145
Oct-18 5.0921665 5.0134185
Nov-18 5.0381966 5.0943351
Dec-18 5.0046398 4.9823936
Jan-19 5.0008031 5.057036
Feb-19 5.0266193 4.9480768
Mar-19 5.0734704 5.074464
Apr-19 5.1291246 5.2181104
May-19 5.1822258 5.2036456
Jun-19 5.2244975 5.2513132
Jul-19 5.2524183 5.2515959
Aug-19 5.2693159 5.2677644
Sep-19 5.2791412 5.1952408

Employment

In July 2019:

  • employment increased by 0.19% or 24,600 people, which is above the 20 year average monthly growth rate of 0.17%
  • over the 12 months to July 2019, employment increased by 2.7% or 339,200 people, which is above the 20 year annual average growth rate of 2.0%

In seasonally adjusted terms, in July 2019:

  • between June and July 2019 employment increased by 41,100 to 12,908,200 people
  • over the 12 months to July 2019, employment increased by 2.6% or 332,600 people

Underpinning these net changes in employment is extensive change which occurs in the labour market. In recent months there has generally been considerably more than 300,000 people entering employment, and more than 300,000 leaving employment each month. There are also changes in the hours that people work, which can have an impact on the full-time and part-time composition of employment.

Employed persons
Trend Seasonally adjusted
Jul-09 10780.3271290 10799.0244961
Aug-09 10792.8638646 10789.0142380
Sep-09 10811.1703792 10810.1466516
Oct-09 10833.9014217 10819.7445359
Nov-09 10859.5760994 10850.1055359
Dec-09 10884.2059350 10886.5416602
Jan-10 10905.2091939 10936.2288666
Feb-10 10920.8453530 10919.1278404
Mar-10 10931.8539448 10925.0726913
Apr-10 10942.8221482 10937.3155982
May-10 10957.6093731 10938.5129115
Jun-10 10979.9153301 10992.4671684
Jul-10 11010.4964975 11018.9290450
Aug-10 11046.3239653 11060.0317531
Sep-10 11082.3759125 11087.7296303
Oct-10 11114.7758185 11103.7418470
Nov-10 11140.6271156 11162.2357171
Dec-10 11159.2058446 11168.4635721
Jan-11 11171.7020007 11199.3734309
Feb-11 11179.8084813 11174.1771125
Mar-11 11185.8164729 11214.7498826
Apr-11 11191.0193745 11182.6267057
May-11 11197.7024473 11172.2286699
Jun-11 11206.2682850 11205.7226362
Jul-11 11215.7810383 11209.7361636
Aug-11 11226.4853512 11217.0079554
Sep-11 11237.1441976 11246.8195870
Oct-11 11246.9550351 11248.4713714
Nov-11 11254.8610264 11251.6053550
Dec-11 11262.5581117 11230.8089191
Jan-12 11272.0148815 11304.9394327
Feb-12 11284.9921700 11269.1740756
Mar-12 11301.5209654 11333.1470992
Apr-12 11319.0471141 11322.2111132
May-12 11334.8072267 11363.9292414
Jun-12 11347.2259150 11339.4914666
Jul-12 11355.8199661 11348.7662431
Aug-12 11362.1969398 11357.3411850
Sep-12 11369.6157735 11391.1991141
Oct-12 11379.8192435 11390.5169421
Nov-12 11392.7372441 11383.8680227
Dec-12 11407.4213388 11395.4552451
Jan-13 11421.9942998 11463.2217742
Feb-13 11435.7972176 11465.3073372
Mar-13 11447.1622582 11434.6672946
Apr-13 11455.7382713 11467.8728494
May-13 11462.0081979 11458.1233887
Jun-13 11466.2122501 11471.9476450
Jul-13 11468.4578669 11457.5925391
Aug-13 11467.5510790 11454.7499528
Sep-13 11463.1192551 11476.0133766
Oct-13 11457.1921207 11469.9998316
Nov-13 11453.3658950 11447.7142382
Dec-13 11454.5997437 11417.1790878
Jan-14 11463.1494866 11456.7685017
Feb-14 11478.5137274 11477.4977687
Mar-14 11498.1207828 11531.1307667
Apr-14 11517.0683967 11538.8905891
May-14 11531.1221616 11514.4984157
Jun-14 11539.4249854 11531.1749925
Jul-14 11544.2672586 11546.3423830
Aug-14 11548.0618994 11545.7140469
Sep-14 11554.2211466 11548.5793990
Oct-14 11564.8327518 11540.9584138
Nov-14 11580.0610230 11544.8201669
Dec-14 11599.9069836 11596.0372140
Jan-15 11623.3743706 11609.1864014
Feb-15 11648.6696940 11678.2567645
Mar-15 11673.8067020 11691.9188650
Apr-15 11696.9624485 11693.8825184
May-15 11717.8525333 11736.0895029
Jun-15 11738.2908687 11729.5396193
Jul-15 11760.7153751 11762.0925909
Aug-15 11787.2717063 11772.2711471
Sep-15 11817.7852012 11786.4307569
Oct-15 11849.1455932 11858.0063128
Nov-15 11879.2177863 11897.3894333
Dec-15 11904.4805858 11904.0640162
Jan-16 11922.4629139 11911.1283755
Feb-16 11935.0625113 11931.6398547
Mar-16 11944.3043930 11938.9971421
Apr-16 11953.2146453 11949.2790478
May-16 11962.2674732 11946.3379083
Jun-16 11970.5080621 11963.9085375
Jul-16 11977.7446920 11998.6685373
Aug-16 11984.4626476 11973.5754220
Sep-16 11990.6865953 11957.8255377
Oct-16 11998.0251220 11981.8624510
Nov-16 12008.4868921 12014.2294950
Dec-16 12024.0914647 12034.0021167
Jan-17 12047.2322863 12054.5080737
Feb-17 12077.2328744 12062.9100129
Mar-17 12112.9876313 12114.3721463
Apr-17 12153.2334338 12169.8750855
May-17 12194.1511695 12197.6332392
Jun-17 12233.1738538 12224.3840304
Jul-17 12269.2610560 12262.3129484
Aug-17 12303.0711630 12315.5788967
Sep-17 12336.3055555 12348.7681515
Oct-17 12369.8115110 12350.9070300
Nov-17 12403.0166753 12411.7719429
Dec-17 12433.6125595 12448.3732524
Jan-18 12458.8652948 12483.9395646
Feb-18 12477.6307092 12485.8916780
Mar-18 12492.2710016 12486.1045795
Apr-18 12506.1057586 12506.6071786
May-18 12523.6671592 12508.6601723
Jun-18 12547.4282041 12571.2257684
Jul-18 12576.0400738 12575.5470556
Aug-18 12607.8374949 12621.0831293
Sep-18 12640.0497204 12633.8099205
Oct-18 12669.9941876 12659.4898450
Nov-18 12696.4497892 12698.8558671
Dec-18 12721.1283156 12717.1073402
Jan-19 12746.8204762 12753.4835510
Feb-19 12774.3982716 12764.3871145
Mar-19 12803.6044814 12784.3497251
Apr-19 12833.3518295 12824.2008902
May-19 12862.9334378 12869.3840315
Jun-19 12890.5766175 12867.0418586
Jul-19 12915.2168838 12908.1691694

Full-time and part-time employment

In July 2019:

  • full-time employment increased by 15,100 to 8,849,500 people, and part-time employment increased 9,600 to 4,065,700 people
  • over the 12 months to July 2019, full-time employment increased by 257,000 people and part-time employment increased by 82,200 people

This has led to a decrease in the part-time share of employment from 31.7% to 31.5% over the 12 months to July 2019.

In seasonally adjusted terms, in July 2019:

  • full-time employment increased 34,500 to 8,847,100, and part-time employment increased 6,700 to 4,061,100
  • over the 12 months to July 2019, full-time employment increased by 255,600 people and part-time employment increased by 77,000 people

Employment to population ratio

In July 2019:

  • the employment to population ratio remained steady at 62.6%, and increased 0.6 pts from the same time last year.

In seasonally adjusted terms, in July 2019:

  • the employment to population ratio increased by 0.1 pts to 62.6%, and increased by 0.5 pts from the same time last year.

The employment to population ratio provides a measure of the change in employment relative to changes in the size of the population.

Employment to population ratio
Trend Seasonally adjusted
Jul-09 61.5879214 61.6977092
Aug-09 61.5691123 61.5408484
Sep-09 61.5845388 61.5636056
Oct-09 61.6258293 61.5399593
Nov-09 61.6833210 61.6339277
Dec-09 61.7328892 61.7616878
Jan-10 61.7601241 61.9422407
Feb-10 61.7573035 61.7434800
Mar-10 61.7319177 61.6753888
Apr-10 61.7118224 61.6744698
May-10 61.7188661 61.6140119
Jun-10 61.7722879 61.8506795
Jul-10 61.8739365 61.9250938
Aug-10 62.0046992 62.0824117
Sep-10 62.1354926 62.1670852
Oct-10 62.2432998 62.1836411
Nov-10 62.3106038 62.4365058
Dec-10 62.3321824 62.3966099
Jan-11 62.3154900 62.4754562
Feb-11 62.2725019 62.2398095
Mar-11 62.2194199 62.3706688
Apr-11 62.1659867 62.1154790
May-11 62.1255742 61.9836279
Jun-11 62.0980748 62.0963212
Jul-11 62.0753874 62.0426012
Aug-11 62.0561927 62.0041538
Sep-11 62.0324199 62.0960256
Oct-11 61.9982799 62.0112014
Nov-11 61.9476407 61.9334572
Dec-11 61.8900770 61.7240353
Jan-12 61.8384247 62.0229288
Feb-12 61.8054703 61.7164306
Mar-12 61.7944452 61.9557039
Apr-12 61.7932859 61.8091451
May-12 61.7871167 61.9486948
Jun-12 61.7660960 61.7291792
Jul-12 61.7261628 61.6890940
Aug-12 61.6746632 61.6425285
Sep-12 61.6288888 61.7415791
Oct-12 61.5969860 61.6524344
Nov-12 61.5771590 61.5322012
Dec-12 61.5630316 61.5084319
Jan-13 61.5454016 61.7729592
Feb-13 61.5231694 61.6806375
Mar-13 61.4901943 61.4123731
Apr-13 61.4466770 61.5125029
May-13 61.3953758 61.3779622
Jun-13 61.3368717 61.3721685
Jul-13 61.2711478 61.2135985
Aug-13 61.1915497 61.1114796
Sep-13 61.0955878 61.1503741
Oct-13 60.9916994 61.0565099
Nov-13 60.8964822 60.8757601
Dec-13 60.8235656 60.6493700
Jan-14 60.7850286 60.7578346
Feb-14 60.7806274 60.7640957
Mar-14 60.8007205 60.9467755
Apr-14 60.8220355 60.9268283
May-14 60.8226494 60.7358737
Jun-14 60.7965200 60.7650143
Jul-14 60.7535766 60.7692713
Aug-14 60.7051996 60.6938793
Sep-14 60.6687176 60.6262944
Oct-14 60.6541572 60.5358948
Nov-14 60.6606866 60.4847289
Dec-14 60.6865367 60.6821257
Jan-15 60.7276010 60.6574987
Feb-15 60.7773024 60.9235153
Mar-15 60.8279330 60.9098397
Apr-15 60.8713244 60.8494124
May-15 60.9074304 61.0044710
Jun-15 60.9450477 60.9129100
Jul-15 60.9954090 61.0035415
Aug-15 61.0676430 60.9906176
Sep-15 61.1584976 60.9729216
Oct-15 61.2500727 61.3023227
Nov-15 61.3286508 61.4256390
Dec-15 61.3741776 61.3863692
Jan-16 61.3756324 61.3196757
Feb-16 61.3470971 61.3219014
Mar-16 61.3043708 61.2787512
Apr-16 61.2644478 61.2400700
May-16 61.2287020 61.1490914
Jun-16 61.1895696 61.1838572
Jul-16 61.1457934 61.2567870
Aug-16 61.0993795 61.0374904
Sep-16 61.0502898 60.8492377
Oct-16 61.0046229 60.9372219
Nov-16 60.9694755 61.0048079
Dec-16 60.9526573 61.0216566
Jan-17 60.9677388 61.0111918
Feb-17 61.0165096 60.9402952
Mar-17 61.0991915 61.1174905
Apr-17 61.2125288 61.2955767
May-17 61.3377024 61.3538335
Jun-17 61.4583729 61.4400153
Jul-17 61.5662837 61.5279246
Aug-17 61.6624189 61.6973021
Sep-17 61.7550551 61.7647390
Oct-17 61.8462226 61.7654722
Nov-17 61.9308667 61.9807384
Dec-17 61.9949359 62.0929887
Jan-18 62.0247584 62.1572960
Feb-18 62.0186024 62.0549249
Mar-18 61.9948051 61.9859070
Apr-18 61.9725449 61.9758360
May-18 61.9718837 61.8985519
Jun-18 62.0019603 62.1685157
Jul-18 62.0560442 62.0725425
Aug-18 62.1272045 62.1746361
Sep-18 62.2040845 62.1394468
Oct-18 62.2711722 62.2647595
Nov-18 62.3174034 62.3537566
Dec-18 62.3485419 62.3644860
Jan-19 62.3761718 62.4205585
Feb-19 62.4066834 62.3536635
Mar-19 62.4455157 62.3729374
Apr-19 62.4963746 62.4473694
May-19 62.5501117 62.5696047
Jun-19 62.5911336 62.5162181
Jul-19 62.6120172 62.5870991

Hours worked

In July 2019, monthly hours worked in all jobs:

  • increased by 0.1 million hours (0.0%) to 1,777 million hours
  • increased by 1.8% over the year, which is below the 2.7% increase in employed people

In seasonally adjusted terms, in July 2019, monthly hours worked in all jobs:

  • increased by 8.8 million hours (0.5%) to 1,780 million hours
  • increased by 2.0% over the year, which is below the 2.6% increase in employed people
Monthly hours worked in all jobs
Trend Seasonally adjusted
Jul-09 1513.130073 1508.044866
Aug-09 1515.03259 1510.020579
Sep-09 1518.766428 1522.948667
Oct-09 1523.879188 1514.349638
Nov-09 1529.366379 1535.41599
Dec-09 1534.11326 1537.294216
Jan-10 1538.094634 1539.577005
Feb-10 1541.136877 1543.487276
Mar-10 1544.024891 1531.787208
Apr-10 1547.357571 1544.027261
May-10 1551.548344 1560.569425
Jun-10 1556.618625 1560.278555
Jul-10 1561.690353 1554.444142
Aug-10 1566.507892 1568.930524
Sep-10 1571.043187 1567.982554
Oct-10 1575.465046 1572.672494
Nov-10 1579.669524 1577.216302
Dec-10 1582.841974 1575.195752
Jan-11 1584.408272 1587.78093
Feb-11 1584.498342 1585.645681
Mar-11 1583.916092 1584.857047
Apr-11 1583.124658 1560.622798
May-11 1583.283253 1579.308972
Jun-11 1584.616054 1587.903373
Jul-11 1586.568084 1588.855472
Aug-11 1588.532497 1590.165273
Sep-11 1589.881725 1587.401575
Oct-11 1590.631042 1596.88242
Nov-11 1591.295519 1592.111637
Dec-11 1592.98124 1593.30568
Jan-12 1595.66202 1595.777143
Feb-12 1598.516628 1592.548483
Mar-12 1600.492184 1601.743327
Apr-12 1601.24899 1605.878054
May-12 1600.522842 1610.929347
Jun-12 1598.654909 1584.57172
Jul-12 1596.939513 1595.27201
Aug-12 1596.321941 1594.295337
Sep-12 1597.430501 1604.994927
Oct-12 1599.870175 1589.776571
Nov-12 1602.635984 1606.693428
Dec-12 1604.925893 1609.173772
Jan-13 1606.332096 1607.52431
Feb-13 1607.289306 1609.172636
Mar-13 1608.295436 1602.627716
Apr-13 1609.773478 1618.620197
May-13 1611.719689 1610.057968
Jun-13 1613.829599 1609.887242
Jul-13 1614.949212 1619.880189
Aug-13 1614.636623 1623.669741
Sep-13 1613.198365 1611.527552
Oct-13 1611.577666 1610.733633
Nov-13 1610.343121 1607.409946
Dec-13 1609.546083 1608.295802
Jan-14 1609.508641 1601.793757
Feb-14 1610.368315 1609.964468
Mar-14 1611.965559 1617.582129
Apr-14 1614.101647 1606.741905
May-14 1616.47795 1614.809909
Jun-14 1618.533737 1622.111205
Jul-14 1619.71727 1620.732779
Aug-14 1620.070585 1621.165316
Sep-14 1619.999873 1617.251453
Oct-14 1620.556896 1618.057829
Nov-14 1622.576881 1619.11421
Dec-14 1626.35155 1606.796548
Jan-15 1630.922479 1636.288804
Feb-15 1635.193664 1634.182899
Mar-15 1638.23242 1642.991129
Apr-15 1639.987806 1645.637622
May-15 1641.184211 1642.138599
Jun-15 1642.833317 1639.794969
Jul-15 1645.373026 1646.274804
Aug-15 1648.700138 1643.717855
Sep-15 1652.590182 1655.243819
Oct-15 1656.811122 1659.587434
Nov-15 1660.363123 1660.386736
Dec-15 1662.554385 1657.334913
Jan-16 1663.117338 1667.449527
Feb-16 1662.401837 1669.407166
Mar-16 1661.322797 1659.888225
Apr-16 1660.57447 1639.495217
May-16 1660.541595 1668.90238
Jun-16 1661.440331 1661.989318
Jul-16 1663.465643 1666.990115
Aug-16 1666.332076 1669.480742
Sep-16 1669.232287 1665.780867
Oct-16 1671.857275 1671.631077
Nov-16 1674.146434 1672.968605
Dec-16 1676.038665 1680.829541
Jan-17 1677.88032 1700.886755
Feb-17 1680.32805 1668.237022
Mar-17 1683.871394 1682.887423
Apr-17 1688.670401 1671.837201
May-17 1694.482193 1717.209933
Jun-17 1700.812327 1711.852843
Jul-17 1707.404379 1704.620727
Aug-17 1713.655066 1710.376468
Sep-17 1719.211264 1718.64561
Oct-17 1723.759658 1722.402294
Nov-17 1727.04394 1734.578016
Dec-17 1728.893957 1729.784416
Jan-18 1729.443576 1707.102993
Feb-18 1729.593713 1728.985116
Mar-18 1730.572647 1730.091746
Apr-18 1732.880466 1751.693459
May-18 1736.566415 1735.445738
Jun-18 1741.085064 1744.916474
Jul-18 1745.461958 1746.378815
Aug-18 1749.395393 1747.471865
Sep-18 1752.69763 1752.832053
Oct-18 1755.672076 1759.275557
Nov-18 1758.948859 1756.119645
Dec-18 1762.778017 1757.839246
Jan-19 1766.551393 1767.564647
Feb-19 1769.557979 1768.366314
Mar-19 1771.601739 1778.267395
Apr-19 1773.012116 1776.128642
May-19 1774.170387 1770.604544
Jun-19 1775.618138 1770.149465
Jul-19 1777.828264 1778.772952

Participation

In July 2019, the participation rate:

  • increased 0.1 pts to 66.1%, and increased 0.6 pts over the year to July 2019
  • increased 0.1 pts for both men (71.3%) and women (61.1%)
  • remained steady at 78.6% for 15 to 64 year olds (the working age population). For men, it was 83.3% and for women 74.0%
  • increased 0.2 pts to 68.4% for 15 to 24 year olds

In seasonally adjusted terms, in July 2019, the participation rate:

  • increased 0.1 points to 66.1%, and increased 0.5 pts over the year to July 2019
  • decreased by less than 0.1 pts for for men (71.2%) and increased by 0.2 pts for women (61.0%)
  • increased by 0.2 pts to 78.6% for 15 to 64 year olds (the working age population). For men, it was 83.3% and for women 74.0%
  • increased 0.3 pts to 68.2% for 15 to 24 year olds
Participation rate
Trend Seasonally adjusted
Jul-09 65.3668993 65.4072087
Aug-09 65.3231366 65.2640311
Sep-09 65.2987060 65.2573754
Oct-09 65.2920872 65.2071996
Nov-09 65.3013593 65.2617257
Dec-09 65.3127843 65.3503712
Jan-10 65.3081888 65.3858295
Feb-10 65.2814407 65.2042263
Mar-10 65.2367935 65.2118426
Apr-10 65.1921898 65.2639511
May-10 65.1687570 65.0141999
Jun-10 65.1911253 65.2058199
Jul-10 65.2648004 65.3813227
Aug-10 65.3727373 65.3644707
Sep-10 65.4885606 65.4759254
Oct-10 65.5854303 65.6542782
Nov-10 65.6397522 65.7980102
Dec-10 65.6436724 65.5954531
Jan-11 65.6075066 65.7663645
Feb-11 65.5445166 65.5057738
Mar-11 65.4759499 65.6018026
Apr-11 65.4210826 65.3570157
May-11 65.3945173 65.2552162
Jun-11 65.3938133 65.3079345
Jul-11 65.4131166 65.3695243
Aug-11 65.4422271 65.4439310
Sep-11 65.4571112 65.5171428
Oct-11 65.4441124 65.4055926
Nov-11 65.3917886 65.3511179
Dec-11 65.3114602 65.1067686
Jan-12 65.2289685 65.3197593
Feb-12 65.1689158 65.1113269
Mar-12 65.1410529 65.3403568
Apr-12 65.1380507 65.0576903
May-12 65.1472206 65.3471153
Jun-12 65.1516305 65.0907591
Jul-12 65.1401525 65.0570841
Aug-12 65.1146929 64.9852484
Sep-12 65.0898726 65.3274238
Oct-12 65.0727898 65.1814082
Nov-12 65.0684871 64.9450660
Dec-12 65.0766040 65.0406988
Jan-13 65.0877343 65.2908077
Feb-13 65.0989634 65.2205696
Mar-13 65.1020626 65.0786901
Apr-13 65.0898739 65.1516460
May-13 65.0630551 65.0258144
Jun-13 65.0240819 65.0802392
Jul-13 64.9773823 64.8634222
Aug-13 64.9163166 64.8902364
Sep-13 64.8408349 64.8507739
Oct-13 64.7555623 64.8353826
Nov-13 64.6714008 64.6203184
Dec-13 64.6002856 64.4507551
Jan-14 64.5561285 64.5919248
Feb-14 64.5479456 64.5792335
Mar-14 64.5754050 64.7443811
Apr-14 64.6181491 64.6790009
May-14 64.6578795 64.5634482
Jun-14 64.6846004 64.6781482
Jul-14 64.6987336 64.7660579
Aug-14 64.7017308 64.6314675
Sep-14 64.7042027 64.6512611
Oct-14 64.7105854 64.6547970
Nov-14 64.7217905 64.5478415
Dec-14 64.7370933 64.6234530
Jan-15 64.7558517 64.7653522
Feb-15 64.7787951 64.8929084
Mar-15 64.8050594 64.8588934
Apr-15 64.8331627 64.8083843
May-15 64.8609351 64.8497982
Jun-15 64.8934676 64.8078550
Jul-15 64.9350570 65.0844431
Aug-15 64.9920297 64.9482935
Sep-15 65.0588303 64.9756005
Oct-15 65.1187466 65.1657338
Nov-15 65.1591636 65.2411575
Dec-15 65.1642046 65.1197567
Jan-16 65.1282475 65.2543245
Feb-16 65.0678454 65.0071394
Mar-16 65.0009684 64.9412304
Apr-16 64.9461080 64.9017150
May-16 64.8988351 64.8580469
Jun-16 64.8491450 64.8795961
Jul-16 64.7984342 64.9509266
Aug-16 64.7505515 64.6690730
Sep-16 64.7045421 64.4869185
Oct-16 64.6744475 64.5497378
Nov-16 64.6663876 64.7296884
Dec-16 64.6782634 64.7891546
Jan-17 64.7111603 64.6939323
Feb-17 64.7616377 64.7154112
Mar-17 64.8298117 64.9081903
Apr-17 64.9179307 64.9417781
May-17 65.0139024 64.9521284
Jun-17 65.1035912 65.0850068
Jul-17 65.1809061 65.1665715
Aug-17 65.2531622 65.3035082
Sep-17 65.3335215 65.3190228
Oct-17 65.4220251 65.2774776
Nov-17 65.5136858 65.5241084
Dec-17 65.5942889 65.7677654
Jan-18 65.6407409 65.7882758
Feb-18 65.6407837 65.7033152
Mar-18 65.6067121 65.5961379
Apr-18 65.5586961 65.6084332
May-18 65.5213901 65.4269719
Jun-18 65.5117281 65.6632087
Jul-18 65.5246500 65.5320588
Aug-18 65.5528574 65.6381787
Sep-18 65.5867630 65.4129837
Oct-18 65.6122436 65.5511110
Nov-18 65.6236421 65.7007741
Dec-18 65.6332323 65.6346632
Jan-19 65.6596944 65.7453232
Feb-19 65.7097284 65.5995812
Mar-19 65.7831214 65.7072270
Apr-19 65.8753239 65.8853391
May-19 65.9677096 66.0042310
Jun-19 66.0375613 65.9810919
Jul-19 66.0784029 66.0560985

Underemployment and underutilisation

In July 2019:

  • the underemployment rate remained steady at 8.4%
  • the underutilisation rate was 13.6%

In seasonally adjusted terms, in July 2019:

  • the underemployment rate increased 0.2 pts to 8.4%
  • the underutilisation rate was 13.6%
Underemployment and underutilisation
Underemployment rate - Trend Underemployment rate - Seasonally adjusted Underutilisation rate - Trend Underutilisation rate - Seasonally adjusted
Jul-09 7.5857287 7.5599272 13.3667734 13.2304985
Aug-09 7.5878861 7.5574567 13.3346026 13.2634717
Sep-09 7.5880139 7.5961178 13.2759429 13.2565237
Oct-09 7.5888899 7.5558156 13.2041184 13.1806848
Nov-09 7.581274 7.5999241 13.1219274 13.1586666
Dec-09 7.5523668 7.5401604 13.0336315 13.0337592
Jan-10 7.4908797 7.5461572 12.9237265 12.8123374
Feb-10 7.3956081 7.474779 12.7939409 12.7825017
Mar-10 7.2842676 7.2938481 12.656706 12.7171502
Apr-10 7.1833654 7.1072547 12.5218915 12.6082415
May-10 7.1142112 6.9896724 12.4079683 12.2186822
Jun-10 7.0856639 7.0356611 12.330051 12.1808235
Jul-10 7.0882181 7.0678085 12.283857 12.3530136
Aug-10 7.0998585 7.1878094 12.251971 12.2099692
Sep-10 7.0955805 7.1440627 12.2156648 12.1978182
Oct-10 7.0642847 7.0501643 12.1600872 12.3379847
Nov-10 7.0164813 6.9125939 12.08826 12.0215937
Dec-10 6.9709787 6.9541884 12.0155355 11.8328072
Jan-11 6.9453764 6.8388414 11.963033 11.8420554
Feb-11 6.9439827 6.8768855 11.935975 11.862676
Mar-11 6.9525781 6.949115 11.9261901 11.8746639
Apr-11 6.9506378 7.0246454 11.9262614 11.9854741
May-11 6.9276152 7.0686016 11.9264077 12.0815405
Jun-11 6.8893471 6.984784 11.9291122 11.9014743
Jul-11 6.8528687 6.8031345 11.9552989 11.8907036
Aug-11 6.8390685 6.7521797 12.0130506 12.0095876
Sep-11 6.8638346 6.8313072 12.0957451 12.0532837
Oct-11 6.9264807 6.9450929 12.1917676 12.136567
Nov-11 7.0149448 7.0651514 12.2818113 12.2954126
Dec-11 7.1085395 7.1348981 12.3469313 12.3325906
Jan-12 7.1891313 7.1529408 12.3868424 12.1992772
Feb-12 7.2439212 7.2678658 12.4048832 12.4818787
Mar-12 7.2672872 7.2343966 12.4046514 12.4144484
Apr-12 7.2523525 7.2958652 12.3871408 12.2903453
May-12 7.199441 7.3521308 12.3570555 12.5527365
Jun-12 7.1221768 7.18504 12.3185077 12.3479502
Jul-12 7.0428196 7.0500539 12.2838048 12.2236765
Aug-12 6.9819728 6.9098645 12.2650326 12.0551373
Sep-12 6.9489884 6.8395348 12.2662431 12.3289784
Oct-12 6.94693 6.9892752 12.2883303 12.4058609
Nov-12 6.9682919 7.0406602 12.3338806 12.2965782
Dec-12 7.0048454 7.0263273 12.40395 12.458747
Jan-13 7.0569348 6.985476 12.4992956 12.3725071
Feb-13 7.1200322 7.0671806 12.6128586 12.4948463
Mar-13 7.1967115 7.2274268 12.7447113 12.8612284
Apr-13 7.2829703 7.2121156 12.880158 12.7994576
May-13 7.3670885 7.4567324 13.0042024 13.0680519
Jun-13 7.4330364 7.5461823 13.1035363 13.2414439
Jul-13 7.4748206 7.3694721 13.1786803 12.9902985
Aug-13 7.4931528 7.5776384 13.2309588 13.4048501
Sep-13 7.4939649 7.4450898 13.2700734 13.1517509
Oct-13 7.4840227 7.5137837 13.2964964 13.3458861
Nov-13 7.4721327 7.4694486 13.3092429 13.2655882
Dec-13 7.4676334 7.5170216 13.3139187 13.4160163
Jan-14 7.4710934 7.3311508 13.312667 13.2654591
Feb-14 7.496931 7.5058975 13.3333837 13.4155722
Mar-14 7.561483 7.5323461 13.4068206 13.3978689
Apr-14 7.6699353 7.6551983 13.5445323 13.4589968
May-14 7.819016 7.7610922 13.7504992 13.691783
Jun-14 7.9954818 7.926282 14.0062541 13.9727789
Jul-14 8.1753177 8.2840951 14.2730314 14.4486528
Aug-14 8.3319889 8.3784682 14.5088286 14.4664636
Sep-14 8.4491498 8.8326128 14.6859419 15.053428
Oct-14 8.5187236 8.2032103 14.7872498 14.5819162
Nov-14 8.5423424 8.6461215 14.8170177 14.9429285
Dec-14 8.5307536 8.452277 14.7876757 14.5512103
Jan-15 8.4962432 8.5168075 14.7169359 14.8566407
Feb-15 8.4536362 8.501341 14.6308331 14.6188476
Mar-15 8.4091712 8.1513578 14.5462579 14.2403013
Apr-15 8.3807193 8.3273792 14.4915315 14.438859
May-15 8.3855422 8.3844965 14.4808448 14.3149119
Jun-15 8.4272178 8.3794079 14.5116125 14.3846048
Jul-15 8.4939848 8.6105827 14.5610158 14.8713236
Aug-15 8.5699229 8.4765521 14.6082423 14.5536941
Sep-15 8.6260187 8.7948666 14.6212401 14.9526845
Oct-15 8.6417126 8.712573 14.5827993 14.6518031
Nov-15 8.6136991 8.5776928 14.4924217 14.4280321
Dec-15 8.5505917 8.4654044 14.3665722 14.1969068
Jan-16 8.4795866 8.5189833 14.241245 14.5447281
Feb-16 8.4326824 8.3521467 14.1507368 14.0216494
Mar-16 8.432825 8.3899303 14.1197124 14.0305539
Apr-16 8.4862624 8.62573 14.1550555 14.2713109
May-16 8.5694338 8.3235746 14.22464 14.0424932
Jun-16 8.649766 8.7712916 14.2930222 14.4603566
Jul-16 8.6951975 8.9817108 14.3321402 14.6596784
Aug-16 8.6936961 8.8528814 14.3325003 14.4548215
Sep-16 8.6615203 8.7223713 14.309096 14.3659009
Oct-16 8.6293211 8.5413876 14.3035777 14.1491581
Nov-16 8.6227937 8.4925254 14.3395808 14.2485604
Dec-16 8.6556021 8.6133209 14.4156456 14.4252261
Jan-17 8.7095316 8.7957835 14.494199 14.4839723
Feb-17 8.7479426 9.0258734 14.5308249 14.8596088
Mar-17 8.7486477 8.6086425 14.5031795 14.4512898
Apr-17 8.7078025 8.7592868 14.4157453 14.3784056
May-17 8.6433894 8.6793051 14.2979724 14.2197947
Jun-17 8.5816185 8.4193786 14.1807744 14.0118009
Jul-17 8.5386823 8.5013608 14.0842151 14.0733744
Aug-17 8.5167895 8.6536031 14.0195641 14.163032
Sep-17 8.5082188 8.5369832 13.9854103 13.9847205
Oct-17 8.5087769 8.5089219 13.9744294 13.8998958
Nov-17 8.5134852 8.4940435 13.9821378 13.9024732
Dec-17 8.5136716 8.4779515 14.0008166 14.0616779
Jan-18 8.5129362 8.7541046 14.0216042 14.2677414
Feb-18 8.5197279 8.5112307 14.03788 14.0641103
Mar-18 8.5251489 8.5748721 14.0304866 14.0810353
Apr-18 8.5189766 8.4685879 13.9890317 14.0095313
May-18 8.4954408 8.4289709 13.9126973 13.8224589
Jun-18 8.4545827 8.5800094 13.81204 13.8968012
Jul-18 8.4058466 8.4412889 13.6994754 13.7062388
Aug-18 8.3582982 8.2602998 13.584151 13.5237889
Sep-18 8.3174965 8.2905963 13.4751069 13.3100877
Oct-18 8.2822971 8.2930605 13.3744636 13.3182977
Nov-18 8.2548066 8.475832 13.2930032 13.5707572
Dec-18 8.2461681 8.3286079 13.2508079 13.3071272
Jan-19 8.2567164 8.1485948 13.2575194 13.1996341
Feb-19 8.2771789 8.07133 13.3037982 13.0187099
Mar-19 8.3081423 8.2260543 13.3816127 13.3018695
Apr-19 8.3490943 8.4846189 13.4782188 13.7066639
May-19 8.3915692 8.5541586 13.5737949 13.7580103
Jun-19 8.4298891 8.1811529 13.6543866 13.4254504
Jul-19 8.4605399 8.3936336 13.7129582 13.6275876

States and territories

Trend estimates

 

Australia NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS NT ACT
Employed persons 12,915,200 4,153,100 3,403,500 2,533,500 856,300 1,356,100 248,000 129,200 231,900
Employed persons - monthly change 0.2% 0.3% 0.1% 0.2% 0.0% 0.3% 0.1% 0.2% 0.4%
Employment to population ratio  62.6% 63.0% 63.0% 61.8% 59.5% 64.3% 56.2% 67.7% 67.7%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change 0.0 pts 0.1 pts -0.0 pts 0.0 pts -0.0 pts 0.1 pts -0.0 pts -0.3 pts 0.1 pts
Unemployment rate  5.3% 4.5% 4.8% 6.4% 6.3% 5.9% 6.7% 4.9% 3.5%
Unemployment rate - monthly change 0.1 pts 0.0 pts 0.0 pts 0.1 pts 0.2 pts 0.0 pts 0.0 pts 0.1 pts 0.0 pts
Underemployment rate  8.4% 7.8% 8.5% 8.6% 9.0% 9.3% 10.4% 6.3% 5.5%
Underemployment rate - monthly change 0.0 pts 0.1 pts -0.0 pts -0.1 pts 0.1 pts 0.2 pts 0.0 pts 0.2 pts 0.0 pts
Participation rate 66.1% 66.0% 66.1% 66.0% 63.4% 68.3% 60.3% 71.3% 70.1%
Participation rate - monthly change 0.1 pts 0.1 pts -0.0 pts 0.1 pts 0.0 pts 0.1 pts -0.0 pts -0.2 pts 0.1 pts

Data downloads

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Labour Force Status

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

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

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

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

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Methodology

Scope

The civilian population aged 15 years and over. Excluding:

  • Members of the permanent defence forces
  • Certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments
  • Overseas residents in Australia
  • Members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants) stationed in Australia

Geography

Data are available for:

  • Australia
  • States and territories
  • Capital cities / Balance of State
  • Labour force regions - Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4)

See Advice on reporting regional labour force data

Source

The Labour Force Survey, which is part of the Monthly Population Survey.

Collection method

Sample survey of approximately 26,000 dwellings (50,000 people).

Data are collected via face-to-face or phone interview, or through self-completion on-line.

Concepts, sources and methods

Descriptions of the underlying concepts and methods used are available in Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods.

History of changes

From July 2018, information from the 2016 Census is used for sample selection, with the new sample phased in over eight months from July 2018.

See the History of Changes for more

Articles

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