The ABS has released its labour market survey for the month of August, with 44,000 jobs added, mostly full-time, but almost no change in hours worked nor the unemployment rate. Importantly, however, the quarterly underemployment and underutilisation rate improved:
AUGUST KEY POINTS
TREND ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)
- Employment increased 29,000 to 12,620,700.
- Unemployment decreased 2,700 to 711,900.
- Unemployment rate decreased to 5.3%.
- Participation rate remained steady at 65.6%.
- Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 2.5 million hours (0.1%) to 1,751.4 million hours.
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES (MONTHLY CHANGE)
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- Employment increased 44,000 to 12,631,300. Full-time employment increased 33,700 to 8,630,700 and part-time employment increased 10,200 to 4,000,600.
- Unemployment increased 5,800 to 708,800. The number of unemployed persons looking for full-time work decreased 7,500 to 494,800 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work increased 13,200 to 214,000.
- Unemployment rate remained steady at 5.3%.
- Participation rate increased by 0.2 pts to 65.7%.
- Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 0.6 million hours (0.03%) to 1,750.9 million hours.
LABOUR UNDERUTILISATION (QUARTERLY CHANGE)
- Trend estimates: the labour force underemployment rate remained steady at 8.3%. The underutilisation rate decreased 0.1 pts to 13.6%.
- Seasonally adjusted estimates: the labour force underemployment rate decreased by 0.3 pts to 8.1%. The underutilisation rate decreased 0.4 pts to 13.4%.
I’ll be back shortly with a detailed report.
