Australia’s trend unemployment rate remained steady at 5.3 per cent in October 2019, according to the latest information released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today. The unemployment rate increased in the Northern Territory and New South Wales, and decreased in Tasmania.
Trend unemployment in October 2019 remained steady at 5.3 per cent, 0.2 percentage points higher than the same time last year.
The increase in the unemployment rate over the past year has coincided with a 0.5 percentage point increase in the participation rate, from 65.6 per cent to 66.1 per cent.
The trend monthly underutilisation rate also remained steady at 13.8 per cent in October 2019, an increase of 0.4 percentage points over the past year.
Employment and hours
In October 2019, trend monthly employment increased by around 12,300 people. Full-time employment increased by around 5,800 people and part-time employment increased by around 6,500 people.
Over the past year, trend employment increased by around 268,500 people (2.1 per cent), which continued to be above the average annual growth over the past 20 years (2.0 per cent). Full-time employment increased by 1.8 per cent and part-time employment increased by 2.8 per cent over the past year.
The trend monthly hours worked increased by 0.2 per cent in October 2019 and by 1.7 per cent over the past year. This was slightly above the 20 year average year-on-year growth of 1.6 per cent.
Underemployment and underutilisation
The trend monthly underemployment rate remained steady at 8.5 per cent in October 2019, an increase of 0.2 percentage points over the past year. The trend monthly underutilisation rate also remained steady at 13.8 per cent in October 2019, an increase of 0.4 percentage points over the past year.
States and territories trend unemployment rate
The monthly trend unemployment rate remained steady in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory in October 2019. The unemployment rate increased in the Northern Territory and New South Wales, and decreased in Tasmania.
Over the year, unemployment rates fell in Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, and increased in all other states and territory.
Seasonally adjusted data
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 5.3 per cent in October 2019, while the underemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 8.5 per cent. The seasonally adjusted participation rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 66.0 per cent, and the number of people employed decreased by around 19,000.
The net movement of employed in both trend and seasonally adjusted terms is underpinned by around 300,000 people entering and leaving employment each month.
Note that in original terms, the incoming rotation group in October 2019 had a higher employment to population ratio than the group it replaced (63.0% in October 2019, compared to 61.7% in September 2019), and was higher than the sample as a whole (62.4%). The incoming rotation group had a higher full-time employment to population ratio than the group it replaced (42.8% in October 2019, compared to 41.9% in September 2019), and was higher than the sample as a whole (42.5%).
The unemployment rate of the incoming rotation group was lower than the group it replaced (5.3% in October 2019, compared to 5.4% in September 2019) and was higher than the sample as a whole (5.1%). The participation rate of the incoming rotation group was higher than the group it replaced (66.4% in October 2019, compared to 65.2% in September 2019) and higher than the sample as a whole (65.7%).
