Australia’s trend participation rate increased to 66.0 per cent in June 2019 according to the latest information released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman said, “Australia’s participation rate was at 66 per cent in June 2019, which means nearly two of every three people are currently participating in the labour market. “
“The participation rate for 15 to 64 year olds was even higher and closer to four out of every five people, ” said Mr Hockman.
The trend unemployment rate remained steady at 5.2 per cent from a revised May figure.
Employment and hours
In June 2019, trend monthly employment increased by around 26,000 persons. Full-time employment increased by 15,000 persons and part-time employment increased by 11,000 persons respectively.
Over the past year, trend employment increased by 329,000 persons (2.6 per cent) which was above the average annual growth over the past 20 years (2.0 per cent).
The trend monthly hours worked increased by less than 0.1 per cent in June 2019 and by 2.0 per cent over the past year. This was above the 20 year average year-on-year growth of 1.7 per cent.
Underemployment and underutilisation
The trend monthly underemployment rate remained steady at 8.3 per cent in June, and decreased by 0.2 percentage points over the year. The trend underutilisation rate decreased by 0.4 percentage points over the year.
States and territories trend unemployment rate
The trend unemployment rate remained steady in most states and territories, except for Queensland (up 0.1 percentage points) and Western Australia (down 0.1 percentage points).
Over the year, unemployment rates fell in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, and increased in Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
Seasonally adjusted data
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained steady at 5.2 per cent in June 2019, while the underemployment rate decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 8.2 per cent. The seasonally adjusted participation rate remained steady at 66.0 per cent, and the number of persons employed increased by less than 1,000 persons.
The net movement of employed in both trend and seasonally adjusted terms is underpinned by around 300,000 people entering and leaving employment in the month.
