Labour Force, Australia

Latest release

Headline estimates of employment, unemployment, underemployment, participation and hours worked from the monthly Labour Force Survey

Reference period
April 2025
Released
15/05/2025
  • Next Release 19/06/2025
    Labour Force, Australia, May 2025
  • Next Release 17/07/2025
    Labour Force, Australia, June 2025
  • Next Release 14/08/2025
    Labour Force, Australia, July 2025
  • View all releases

Key statistics

In trend terms, in April 2025:

  • unemployment rate remained at 4.1%.
  • participation rate remained at 67.0%.
  • employment increased to 14,622,100.
  • employment to population ratio remained at 64.3%.
  • underemployment rate increased to 6.0%.
  • monthly hours worked decreased to 1,967 million.

In seasonally adjusted terms, in April 2025:

  • unemployment rate remained at 4.1%.
  • participation rate increased to 67.1%.
  • employment increased to 14,642,700.
  • employment to population ratio increased to 64.4%.
  • underemployment rate increased to 6.0%.
  • monthly hours worked increased to 1,964 million.
  • full-time employment increased by 59,500 to 10,074,300 people.
  • part-time employment increased by 29,500 to 4,568,400 people.
Key statistics - Trend
Mar-25Apr-25Monthly changeMonthly change (%)Yearly changeYearly change (%)
Employed people14,595,70014,622,10026,3000.2%358,5002.5%
Unemployed people616,500618,6002,1000.3%24,4004.1%
Unemployment rate4.1%4.1%0.0 ptsna0.1 ptsna
Underemployment rate5.9%6.0%0.0 ptsna-0.6 ptsna
Participation rate67.0%67.0%0.0 ptsna0.3 ptsna
Monthly hours worked in all jobs1,968 million1,967 million-2 million-0.1%31 million1.6%
Key statistics - Seasonally adjusted
Mar-25Apr-25Monthly changeMonthly change (%)Yearly changeYearly change (%)
Employed people14,553,70014,642,70089,0000.6%389,8002.7%
Unemployed people614,700621,1006,3001.0%13,6002.2%
Unemployment rate4.1%4.1%0.0 ptsna0.0 ptsna
Underemployment rate5.9%6.0%0.1 ptsna-0.5 ptsna
Participation rate66.8%67.1%0.3 ptsna0.4 ptsna
Monthly hours worked in all jobs1,963 million1,964 million1 million0.0%20 million1.1%

Estimates of changes throughout this release are calculated using un-rounded level estimates and may be different from, but are more accurate than, movements obtained from the rounded level estimates.

For definitions of labour statistics used in this publication, please refer to Glossary of Labour Force, Australia methodology.

Survey impacts and changes

Managing the impacts of natural disasters on Labour Force Statistics

Survey response and timeline

Unemployment

In trend terms, in April 2025:

  • unemployment rate remained at 4.1%.
  • unemployed people increased by 2,100 to 618,600.
  • youth unemployment rate remained at 8.9%.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, April 2025

Employment

In trend terms, in April 2025, employment increased by 26,300 people (0.2%) to 14,622,100 people. 

Flows into and out of employment

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, April 2025.

Full-time and part-time employment

In trend terms, in April 2025:

  • full-time employment increased by 11,700 to 10,063,700 people, and part-time employment increased by 14,600 to 4,558,300 people.
  • part-time share of employment was 31.2%.

 

Employment-to-population ratio

In trend terms, in April 2025, the employment-to-population ratio remained at 64.3%.

The employment-to-population ratio provides a measure of employment relative to the size of the population.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, April 2025.

Hours worked

In trend terms, in April 2025, monthly hours worked in all jobs decreased to 1,967 million hours.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, April 2025.

Participation

In trend terms, in April 2025, the participation rate:

  • remained at 67.0%.
  • remained at 71.0% for men and increased to 63.2% for women.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, April 2025.

Underemployment

In trend terms, in April 2025:

  • underemployment rate increased to 6.0%.
  • underutilisation rate remained at 10.0%.

Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in Labour Force, Australia methodology, April 2025.

States and Territories

April 2025 - Trend
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed people4,511,0003,807,2002,998,200961,4001,643,000281,900140,400273,90014,622,100
Employed people - monthly change0.2%0.3%0.2%0.1%0.1%0.1%0.3%0.2%0.2%
Employment to population ratio63.7%64.8%64.5%60.8%66.3%58.0%69.8%70.0%64.3%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.2 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts
Unemployment rate3.9%4.4%4.1%4.0%3.8%3.8%4.1%3.1%4.1%
Unemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts
Underemployment rate5.9%6.3%6.0%6.4%5.4%7.4%3.5%5.4%6.0%
Underemployment rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts-0.1 pts-0.1 pts0.0 pts0.3 pts0.0 pts
Participation rate66.3%67.8%67.2%63.3%68.9%60.3%72.8%72.3%67.0%
Participation rate - monthly change0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.0 pts0.1 pts0.1 pts0.0 pts
April 2025 - Seasonally adjusted
New South WalesVictoriaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaTasmaniaNorthern TerritoryAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
Employed people4,523,9003,824,3003,009,000960,7001,638,200281,500139,700274,90014,642,700
Employed people - monthly change0.6%0.9%0.9%-0.4%-0.2%-0.3%-0.4%0.6%0.6%
Employment to population ratio63.8%65.1%64.7%60.7%66.1%57.9%69.4%70.2%64.4%
Employment to population ratio - monthly change0.3 pts0.4 pts0.4 pts-0.4 pts-0.3 pts-0.2 pts-0.4 pts0.3 pts0.3 pts
Unemployment rate3.9%4.2%4.2%3.9%4.2%3.8%4.0%3.8%4.1%
Unemployment rate - monthly change-0.3 pts-0.1 pts0.2 pts0.0 pts0.5 pts-0.2 pts0.4 pts0.9 pts0.0 pts
Underemployment rate6.0%6.4%5.8%6.5%5.2%7.4%3.5%5.7%6.0%
Underemployment rate - monthly change0.2 pts0.1 pts-0.2 pts0.4 pts-0.6 pts0.0 pts0.3 pts0.9 pts0.1 pts
Participation rate66.4%68.0%67.5%63.2%69.0%60.2%72.4%73.0%67.1%
Participation rate - monthly change0.1 pts0.3 pts0.6 pts-0.4 pts0.1 pts-0.3 pts-0.1 pts1.0 pts0.3 pts

Historical charts

Historical charts for employed, unemployed, unemployment rate and participation rate from August 1966 to April 2025

Rotation group analysis

Sample composition and rotation

Estimates for the incoming and outgoing rotation groups

States and Territories

Comparability with seasonally adjusted and trend data

Contribution from sample components to estimates

Data downloads

Labour Force Survey results are released in three stages.

  1. Spreadsheets of the headline indicators are published in this release
  2. Additional, more detailed spreadsheets and pivot tables are published in Labour Force, Australia, Detailed one week after this first release
  3. Longitudinal labour force microdata are released in the ABS DataLab on a monthly basis, one day after the detailed release (see Microdata: Longitudinal Labour Force, Australia)

See the Survey output section of Labour Force, Australia methodology for more information.

Labour Force status

Data files

The Labour Account is the best source of quarterly data for the market and non-market sectors. For information, see Industry employment guide.

The ABS is currently reviewing the usefulness of the market and non-market sector data in Table 21 of the headline Labour Force release.

Hours worked

Data files

Underemployment and underutilisation

Data files

Flows into and out of employment

GM1 - Labour force status and Gross changes (flows) by Age, Sex, State and Territory, May 2006 to April 2025

GM1 - Labour force status and Gross changes (flows) by Age, Sex, State and Territory, Historical (from February 1991)

All time series spreadsheets

All time series spreadsheets

Data Explorer datasets

Caution: Data in the Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the time period when using Data Explorer.

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data Explorer user guide.

Labour Force status by Sex, State and Territory - Number of people employed, unemployed and not in the labour force, monthly, February 1978 and onwards.

Labour Force monthly hours worked by Sex, State and Territory - Monthly hours worked by employed people, monthly, July 1978 and onwards.

Labour Force status by Age Groups - Number of people employed, unemployed and not in the labour force, monthly, February 1978 and onwards.

Labour Force Educational Attendance - Educational attendance (Full Time) for 15-24 year olds by State, Territory and Sex, monthly, April 1986 and onwards.

Article archive

Employment and jobs

Unemployment and underemployment

Hours worked

Methodology

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6202.0.

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