Australian employment report: more part time workers noted

In October 2016, trend employment decreased by 1,000 persons to 11,946,600 persons, the first decrease in the trend series since November 2013. This slight fall in trend employment reflected an increase in part-time employment of 8,400 persons being more than offset by a decrease in full-time employment of 9,500 persons.

"Since December 2015 we have seen a continued decline in trend full-time employment and an increase in part-time employment, with a corresponding increase in the share of hours worked by part-time workers. This shift to part-time employment has been more pronounced for males compared to females," said the Program Manager of ABS' Labour and Income Branch, Jacqui Jones.

"Over the past year, part-time employment has increased from around 31 per cent of employment to 32 per cent. That's a relatively large shift, if you consider that it was around 29 per cent 10 years ago.

"Since December 2015, there are now around 132,700 more persons working part-time, compared with a 69,900 decrease in those working full-time," said Ms Jones.

The trend monthly hours worked increased by 3.2 million hours (0.2 per cent), with increases in total hours worked by both full-time and part-time workers.

The trend unemployment rate remained steady at 5.6 per cent. The participation rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 64.5 per cent. Participation has decreased by 0.6 percentage points over the past year.