Labour force survey, seasonally-adjusted figures, May 2001

A total of 2 289 000 persons were employed and 84 000 persons were unemployed in the second quarter of 2001 according to figures from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) not seasonally adjusted.

Seasonally adjusted figures indicate that man-weeks worked increased by 20 000 from the 1st to the 2nd quarter 2001. The figures of man-weeks worked are especially uncertain because we have to make adjustments for holidays that fall in random months every year. These kind of holidays fell on weekdays in April, May and June.

Due to the fact that the day after Whitsunday was on a weekday in June we adjust upwards the figure of man-weeks worked by 179 000 before seasonal adjustment. The adjustments are made so that the relative change in average weekly working hours from May to June this year is like last year's. The figure of man-weeks worked in June last year was adjusted up by 221 000, but that year there were two of these random holidays.

Prior to 1996 there was only one survey week each month in the LFS. In June in the reference year 1991 the survey week was the first week of the month, where the proportion on holiday is low. The proportion of the population on holiday in June the years after 1995, when all weeks were surveyed, was high compared with June 1991. Due to this June has had too many leave substitutes since 1996. The employment figures for June this year were therefore adjusted downward by 23 600 before seasonal adjustment. This leave substitute adjustment was at about the same level as in June the past two years.

The purpose of adjusting for seasonal variations is to describe the development during the last year and to give figures for change between the last two 3-months periods cleared for normal seasonal variations. In order to reduce uncertainty the presented series are three months moving averages of the seasonally adjusted figures. For instance the figure from May is the average of the estimates from April, May and June.

Error in the last publishing

Due to an error in the estimation of the April and May figures this year, the last published figure of change in employment and man-weeks worked from January to April were 10 000 and 4 000 too high respectively.

Tables:

• Table 1. Persons aged 16-74 years by labour force status, seasonally adjusted, three-months moving average. 1000