Part Time Employment Chg

Part Time Employment Chg tracks monthly change in Australian part time employment from the Labour Force Survey (national household survey). It covers resident civilians aged 15 years and over and counts people usually working less than 35 hours weekly. The survey began in 1960 and turned monthly in February 1978.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (national statistical agency) draws it from about 24000 dwellings with about 50000 people in 8 rotation groups. It appears in Labour Force Australia catalogue 6202.0. It does not count employer defined part time jobs or payroll jobs and has no expansion threshold.

Interviews generally occur during 2 weeks starting the Sunday between the 5th and 11th and refer to the prior week. December interviews start between the 3rd and 9th and January interviews start between the 7th and 13th. Results appear monthly in Labour Force Australia on the 4th Thursday of the month following the reference month at 1130am Canberra time.

Each release shows employment unemployment underemployment participation and hours worked plus full time and part time levels. Seasonal factors (regular seasonal patterns) update every month and population benchmarks (independent population totals) update quarterly so past months are revised regularly.

Movements reflect who usually works short hours plus survey coverage and hours totals.

• Full-time employment: people usually working 35 hours or more weekly who combine with part time to equal total employment.
• Part-time employment: people usually working less than 35 hours weekly who did so or were away during the reference week (survey week).
• Sex breakdown: male and female part time levels that show which group drives change.
• State and territory breakdown: part time levels by usual residence that capture regional differences.
• Age breakdown: part time levels for groups including 15 to 19 and 15 to 24 that capture youth effects.
• Monthly hours worked in all jobs: total hours in millions that show whether more part time means more work.

In August 2023 (released September 14, 2023) part time employment rose by 62100 to 4258100 while full time rose by 2800 to 9849800. Total employment reached 14107900 so almost all net growth came from part time. The unemployment rate (share without work seeking work) stayed at 3.7%. Participation (share in work or seeking work) stayed at 67.0% so strong part time growth did not cut unemployment.

1. Interview: Ask each household about work in the reference week (survey week). Count as employed anyone working 1 hour or more for pay or without pay in family business or away with a job.
2. Split by usual hours: Classify as full time anyone usually working 35 hours or more or working that much in the reference week. Classify the rest usually under 35 hours as part time.
3. Initial weight: Give each respondent a starting weight from the state sampling fraction. For example 1 in 445 in New South Wales means each person represents 445 people.
4. Composite estimation: Combine current month with prior 6 months to use overlap (shared sample). About 7 eighths of homes overlap between months which steadies estimates.
5. Benchmark: Weight 7 months of data to current month population benchmarks (independent population totals). Totals build from births deaths migration plus Home Affairs data with a 9 month lag.
6. Seasonal adjustment: Remove regular seasonal patterns with multiplicative split where O equals T times S times I. Internal ARIMA projections extend the series and are discarded. Smooth the adjusted series to trend (underlying direction).
7. Monthly change: Subtract prior month seasonally adjusted (regular seasonal patterns removed) part time level from the current month level. For example 4640000 minus 4600000 equals a rise of 40000 people.