Long-term unemployment (ABS Cat No 6291.0.55.

001)
Latest month: February 2017

Release date: 23 March 2017 Table 1: Long-term unemployment and

unemployment rate by jurisdiction,
Next release date: 20 April 2017
12 months to February 2017, original data
Long-term unemployment refers to those persons
Number LTU
who have been unemployed for 52 consecutive LT UR (%) Total UR (%)
Persons ('000)
weeks or longer. Very long-term unemployment
refers to those persons who have been unemployed NSW 52.6 1.3 5.1

for 104 consecutive weeks or longer. The very Vic 38.5 1.2 5.8

long-term unemployed are therefore a subset of the Qld 38.9 1.6 6.2

long-term unemployed. SA 16.4 1.9 6.7

WA 19.9 1.4 6.1
Monthly estimates of the number of long-term
Tas 4.9 1.9 6.3
unemployed persons are highly volatile,
consequently year-average figures have been NT 0.8 0.6 3.7

reported. Trend and seasonally adjusted data are ACT 1.2 0.5 3.7

not available for this series. Aus 173.1 1.4 5.7

SOURCE: LABOUR FORCE, DETAILED, ABS CAT NO 6291.0: TABLE UM2; LABOUR
Recent performance FORCE, AUSTRALIA, ABS CAT NO 6202.0: TABLE 9

The number of long-term unemployed Tasmanians Chart 1: Long-term unemployment,

was estimated to be around 4 900 persons in the Tasmania, 12-month moving average,
year to February 2017 (Table 1), down 0.3 per cent original data
compared with the previous year. Nationally, the 8 Total long-term unemployed
estimated number of long-term unemployed
Year-average, persons

7 Very long-term unemployed

('000), original data

decreased by 1.4 per cent in the same period 6

(Table 2).
5
Tasmania, along with South Australia, recorded the 4
equal highest long-term unemployment rate as a 3
percentage of the labour force (1.9 per cent) of all
2
jurisdictions in the year to February 2017. The
1
national long-term unemployment rate was
0
1.4 per cent in the same period (Table 1). Jun 11 Jun 12 Jun 13 Jun 14 Jun 15 Jun 16 Jun 17
The number of long-term unemployed and very SOURCE: LABOUR FORCE, DETAILED, ABS CAT NO 6291.0: TABLE UM2
long-term unemployed Tasmanians increased
Chart 2: Average duration of unemployment,
significantly over recent years from the low level
Tasmania and Australia, 12-month moving
recorded in early 2009. However, the number of
average, original data
total long-term unemployment in year-average
terms has fallen more recently and is below the high 70
Tasmania
level recorded in late 2014, despite a slight increase
Year-average weeks,

60 Australia
in late 2016 (Chart 1).
original data

The current average duration of unemployment in 50

Tasmania remains below the highs in 2001 and the
40
recent peak in late 2014, but remains higher than
nationally (Chart 2). The average duration of 30
employment in Tasmania in the year to
February 2017 was 55.8 weeks, compared to an 20
Jun 11 Jun 12 Jun 13 Jun 14 Jun 15 Jun 16 Jun 17
average of 45.7 weeks nationally.
SOURCE: LABOUR FORCE, DETAILED, ABS CAT NO 6291.0: TABLE UM2
Long-term unemployment (ABS Cat No 6291.0.55.001)
Latest month: February 2017

Table 2: Long-term unemployment, Tasmania and Australia, year-average original data

Original data, year-average Tasmania Australia
Feb 16 Dec 16 Jan 17 Feb 17 Feb 16 Dec 16 Jan 17 Feb 17
Long-term unemployed
persons ('000) 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.9 175.5 172.0 172.9 173.1
year-to change (%) -18.4 -1.7 -1.8 -0.3 3.0 -3.3 -2.3 -1.4

Long-term unemployment rate

% of labour force 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4
% of unemployed 28.8 29.6 30.0 30.1 23.3 23.8 24.0 23.9

Very long-term unemployed

persons ('000) 2.8 3.0 2.9 2.8 88.3 88.7 88.8 89.7
year-to change (%) -5.9 9.4 5.1 0.6 12.4 0.3 0.2 1.5

Very long-term unemployment

% of labour force 1.1 1.2 1.1 1.1 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7
% of unemployed 16.4 17.8 17.6 17.2 11.8 12.3 12.3 12.4

Average duration of unemployment

Number of weeks 54.5 55.8 55.2 55.8 44.7 46.2 46.1 45.7
SOURCE: LABOUR FORCE, DETAILED, ABS CAT NO 6291.0: TABLE UM2

This Data Release is not to be reproduced or altered without the permission of the Economic Analysis Unit.

Contact Details
Economic Analysis Unit
Economic.Analysis@treasury.tas.gov.au