Australia / Labour market continues to weaken

The summary ABS Labour Force (seasonally adjusted) estimates for July 2013 are:

• Employment decreased 10,200 (0.1 per cent) with full-time employment falling by 6,700 and part-time employment falling by 3,500.
• Unemployment decreased by 5,700 (0.8 per cent) to 705,400 but only because the labour force shrank on the back of a declining participation rate
• The official unemployment rate was steady at 5.7 per cent.
• The participation rate fell by 0.2 points to 65.1 per cent still well below its November 2010 peak (recent) of 65.9 per cent.
• Aggregate monthly hours worked increased by 7.9 million hours (0.48 per cent).
• The quarterly ABS broad labour underutilisation estimate (the sum of unemployment and underemployment) in the May-quarter was 12.9 per cent. This will now be well over 13 per cent as a result of today’s data. In the May-quarter, underemployment was estimated to be 7.4 per cent or 908.6 thousand persons.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at 

via Australian labour market continues to weaken | Bill Mitchell – billy blog.