The seasonally adjusted Australian unemployment rate was 5.2 per cent in October, as announced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.

The ABS reported the number of people employed increased by 10,100 to 11,462,300 in October. The increase in employment was driven by an increase in full-time employment, up 20,000 people to 8,067,500, and was offset by a decrease in part-time employment, down 9,900 people to 3,394,800.

The number of people unemployed decreased by 5,700 people to 630,800 in October, reported the ABS.

The ABS monthly aggregate hours worked series showed an increase in October, up 10.4 million hours to 1,626.0 million hours.

The ABS reported a labour force participation rate in October of 65.6 per cent.

The ABS marks its 50th year of measuring Labour Force statistics with the release of the unemployment figures today. The Labour Force Survey is the Bureau’s longest running household survey and has provided the basis on which the ABS has built an extensive program of labour and social surveys of the Australian population. In celebrating this milestone, the ABS published an article in the October 2011 edition of Australian Labour Market Statistics (cat. no. 6105.0), showing trends in the labour force over the last 50 years, as well as providing an overview of key developments in how the survey has been conducted.

The ABS has also published a new article this month: Understanding Labour Force – which explains how Labour Force statistics are measured and addresses some of the misconceptions that occasionally surround the figures.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics