The trend unemployment rate was 5.4% in the month of July 2018, according to latest figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.
"Over the year to July, the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage points. This continues the gradual decrease in the trend unemployment rate from late 2014 and is the lowest it has been since 2012," said the Chief Economist for the ABS, Bruce Hockman.
Employment and hours
Trend employment increased by around 27,000 persons in July 2018 with full-time employment increasing by over 18,000 persons.
The trend participation rate remained steady at 65.5 per cent in July 2018, after the June figure was revised down.
Over the past year, trend employment increased by around 300,000 persons or 2.4 per cent, which was above the average year-on-year growth over the past 20 years (2.0 per cent).
The trend monthly hours worked increased by 0.2 per cent in July 2018 and by 1.9 per cent over the past year.
States and territories
For most states and territories, year-on-year growth in trend employment was above their 20 year average, except for Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania. Over the past year, the states and territories with the strongest annual growth in trend employment were Northern Territory (3.5 per cent), New South Wales (3.2 per cent) and Victoria (2.5 per cent).
Seasonally adjusted data
The seasonally adjusted number of persons employed decreased by around 4,000 persons in July 2018. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 5.3 per cent and the labour force participation rate decreased to 65.5 per cent.
The net movement of employed in both trend and seasonally adjusted terms is underpinned by well over 300,000 people entering employment, and more than 300,000 leaving employment in the month.
More details are in the July 2018 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0). In addition,
These publications are available for free download (after release) from the ABS website: http://www.abs.gov.au.
