Last week the latest employment numbers released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveal the monthly image is used to describe the entire labour market as well as the broader economy.
Unemployment rates produced some rather amazing news – namely, that unemployment has fallen from 5.2 per cent to 4.9 per cent. It was the first time the unemployment rate was below 5 per cent over the next 12 months, and also the biggest drop since August 2010.
Correct results received great attention; less reported is the news that the unemployment rate has remained at Australia 5.1 percent.
The difference in the two figures, of course, is that the fall to 4.9 per cent are seasonally adjusted figure and the rate of 5.1 percent is s trends. Figures are seasonally adjusted to get most of the media attention because basically it will move more than a trend. And the movement is more newsworthy than no movement.
Seasonally adjusted figures are an attempt to bring into account the changes in the work that is due (rather obvious) seasonal factors such as increased spending before Christmas. It does not remove all these factors, it’s just a little out of balance-but it was still bouncing around a lot.