Monthly trend employment in Australia increased in August 2016, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.
In August 2016, trend employment increased by 9,900 persons to 11,965,100 persons – a monthly growth rate of 0.1 per cent. Trend part-time employment growth continued, with an increase of 10,200 persons, while full-time employment decreased by 400 persons.
”The latest Labour Force release shows continued strength in part-time employment growth, with the majority coming from increasing male part-time employment. Since December 2015, there are now around 105,300 more persons working part-time, compared with a 21,500 decrease in those working full-time,” said the Program Manager of ABS’ Labour and Income Branch, Jacqui Jones.
The trend monthly hours worked increased by 1.7 million hours (0.1 per cent), although it remained below the high in December 2015, reflecting the shift in full-time and part-time employment.
In considering the contribution of the Census to employment, the ABS confirmed that it will have resulted in an increase in hours that were worked during the month, more than the persons in employment. “Of the majority of the persons who were employed for the Census, most already had another job, but worked more hours during the month,” Ms Jones said.
The trend unemployment rate remained steady at 5.7 per cent. The participation rate was also unchanged at 64.8 per cent. Both of these figures have been relatively steady since May 2016.
The trend underemployment rate, which is a quarterly measure of employed persons who want and are available to work more hours, increased by 0.1 percentage points since May 2016, to 8.6 per cent in August 2016, the highest it has ever been.
Trend series smooth the more volatile seasonally adjusted estimates and provide the best measure of the underlying behaviour of the labour market.
The seasonally adjusted number of persons employed decreased by 3,900 in August 2016. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for August 2016 decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 5.6 per cent, and the seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 64.7 per cent.
