According to the ABS, trend employment has increased by 260,500 since October 2014, contributing to an increased employment to population ratio over the year from 60.6 per cent to 61.1 per cent. The trend unemployment rate has remained relatively stable over the year, decreasing from 6.2 per cent to 6.1 per cent.
The trend series smooth the more volatile seasonally adjusted estimates. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October 2015 was 5.9 per cent (down 0.3 percentage points) and the labour force participation rate was 65.0 per cent (up 0.1 percentage points).
The ABS reported the number of people employed increased by 58,600 to 11,838,200 in October 2015 (seasonally adjusted). The increase in employment was driven by increases in male full-time employment (up 33,500) and female part-time employment (up 24,000).
The ABS seasonally adjusted monthly hours worked in all jobs series increased in October 2015, up 19.1 million hours (1.2 per cent) to 1,660.4 million hours.
The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed decreased by 33,400 to 739,500 in October 2015, the ABS reported.
