LABOUR FORCE STATISTICS – May 2003

TREASURY & FINANCE 197 ST GEORGE’S TERRACE, PERTH WA 6000 TELEPHONE (08) 9222 9529 FAX (08) 9222 9914

Key Results

Seasonally Adjusted

/ /

Trend

May 2003 / Change / May 2003 / Change
Employment (‘000, mthly) / 981.2 / 0.4% / 978.7 / 0.1%
Employment (3 mthly) / - / 0.0% / - / 0.4%
Unemployment rate / 5.7% / -0.2 ppts / 5.7 / 0.0 ppts

Comment

Labour market conditions in Western Australia continued to improve in May. Employment increased by 0.4% in May 2003, following a rise of 0.6% in April. Encouragingly, fulltime employment continued to grow strongly, increasing by 1.7%, while part-time employment fell by 2.6%. Despite a 0.1 percentage point increase in the participation rate, the unemployment rate fell to 5.7%, the lowest rate of all States.

Given the inherent volatility associated with monthly labour force data, three monthly data provide a better indication of conditions in the labour market. In the three months to May 2003, employment remained steady, while the unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to average 5.7% due to a fall in the participation rate of 0.6 percentage points to 66.4%.

Nationally, employment fell slightly (down 0.2%) in the three months to May2003, with only three States (Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania) recording employment growth over the three month period. South Australia and Tasmania recorded the strongest growth with employment in both States increasing by 1.6%. Employment in Western Australia stagnated while it fell in Victoria (by 0.7%) and New South Wales (by 0.2%).

Australia’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 6.0% in May 2003, but remained unchanged at 6.1% in three monthly terms for the eighth consecutive month.

The ANZ job ads series rebounded in May 2003, growing by 7.4% for Western Australia, following the decline of 9.7% in April (the April figure was influenced by the Easter and ANZAC holidays, which seasonal adjustment could not remove). Compared to May last year, job ads are up 25.3%. While the trend in national job ads remains negative, the trend still points to an increase in Western Australia with monthly trend growth of 1.1% in May and 5.1% over the three months to May.

DETAIL

Employment

Employment in Western Australia increased by 0.4% in May 2003, and remained unchanged in the three months to May.

Over the three months to May 2003:

  • full-time employment increased by 1.2% (8,300 people) to 690,100 people; whereas
  • part-time employment decreased by 2.8% (8,400 people) to 286,400 people.

In annual average terms, employment grew by 2.6% in Western Australia over the year to May2003, which is the highest annual rate of growth since December 2000.

Nationally, employment grew by 0.3% in May. In the three months to May, national employment fell by 0.2%. Fulltime employment decreased by 0.5%, more than offsetting by a 0.5% rise in part-time employment. Over the year to May 2003, employment grew by 2.4%.

13 April 2002

For further information on these or related statistics please Rasmus Moerch on 9222 9912 or e-mail at

Note: The labour force statistics are derived from a sample survey and monthly variations should be interpreted with caution. All data are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise stated.

Employment
May
Number
‘000s / 3 months to May Change
% / Annual change*
%
NSW / 3,154.0 / -0.2 / 2.0
Vic / 2,394.6 / -0.7 / 2.3
Qld / 1,816.7 / 0.1 / 3.4
WA / 981.2 / 0.0 / 2.6
SA / 721.2 / 1.6 / 2.8
Tas / 205.3 / 1.6 / 1.1
Aust. / 9,535.4 / -0.2 / 2.4

* 12 months to date on same period last year.

12 June 2003

For further information on these or related statistics please contact Kate Gilders on 9222 9521, or
e-mail

Note: The labour force statistics are derived from a sample survey and monthly variations should be interpreted with caution. All data are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise stated.

Unemployment

Western Australia’s unemployment rate fell by 0.2percentage points to 5.7% in May 2003. This is the lowest unemployment rate of all States.

The fall in the unemployment rate occurred despite an increase of 0.1 percentage point in the participation rate to 66.7%. The Western Australian participation rate remains the highest rate of all States and compares with the national rate of 64.0%.

In trend terms, the unemployment rate in Western Australia remained unchanged at 5.7% in May2003 (the lowest rate since September 1989), below the national trend rate that remained unchanged at 6.1%.

Nationally, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 6.0% in May 2003, reflecting employment growth of 0.3% and a steady participation rate.

Unemployment Rate
May
2003
% / Apr.
2003
% / May
2002
%
NSW / 6.1 / 6.0 / 6.1
Vic / 5.9 / 5.9 / 5.8
Qld / 6.5 / 7.0 / 7.4
WA / 5.7 / 5.9 / 6.5
SA / 6.0 / 6.2 / 6.6
Tas / 8.0 / 7.7 / 8.6
Aust. / 6.0 / 6.1 / 6.2

Youth Unemployment

Western Australia’s youth unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 22.2% in May2003, while the national youth unemployment rate 0.4 percentage points to 21.5%. The monthly youth unemployment data, however, are not seasonally adjusted and can be extremely volatile, so care should be taken when interpreting thedata. In annual average terms, Western Australia’s youth unemployment rate fell to 21.3% compared with thenational average of 22.1%.