Labour Force, Australia, Feb 2013

This report presents summary results of the monthly Labour Force Survey containing estimates of employed and unemployed persons classified by sex, full-time/part-time status, states and territories and some age groups; and persons not in the labour force.Key findings:Australia\u27s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained steady at 5.4 per cent in February, as announced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today. The number of people employed increased by 71,500 to 11,628,300 in February. The increase in employment was due to increased part-time employment, up 53,700 people to 3,510,800 and increased full-time employment, up 17,800 to 8,117,400. The increase in total employment was driven by an increase in male part-time employment, and female full-time and part-time employment. The number of people unemployed increased by 400 people to 660,000 in February, the ABS reported. The ABS monthly seasonally adjusted aggregate hours worked series showed an increase in February, up 11.3 million hours to 1,632.8 million hours. The seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 65.3 per cent in February. The seasonally adjusted underemployment rate was 7.1 per cent in February 2013. Combined with the unemployment rate of 5.4 per cent, the latest estimate of total seasonally adjusted labour force underutilisation was 12.5 per cent in February