Statement on Monetary Policy – May 2026Box B: Changes to the Labour Force Survey

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the official source of labour market statistics in Australia. Between April and August 2026, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is implementing some changes to the LFS. This Box outlines the key changes, the data series that will be affected during the transition to the new collection methods and how the RBA will interpret labour market data during the transition period. Following the transition period, all of the data series that the RBA monitors regularly are planned to resume.

What the upcoming changes to the LFS involve.

Data from the LFS are a key input into the RBA’s assessment of labour market conditions and the economic outlook. For example, our assessment of conditions relative to full employment is based on a suite of labour market indicators, many of which are derived from the LFS (including the unemployment rate).1

The ABS is implementing some changes to how the LFS data are collected.2 The changes are designed to support survey response rates – which remain high by international standards – so that the survey will continue to provide reliable and timely information.3

Currently, a surveyed household remains in the LFS for eight months, with core questions asked each month and additional content collected either quarterly or through annual supplementary surveys. Following the changes, core questions will continue to be asked each month, including some content previously asked quarterly, but supplementary questions will be asked only in the final month of a household’s participation. In addition, the survey will be made easier to complete on a smartphone and the structure of the survey will be simplified. These changes are intended to support survey response rates by reducing the burden on respondents.

The concepts, definitions and methods used to produce headline labour market indicators – such as unemployment, employment and participation – will be unaffected by the survey changes.

What the impact on LFS data will be during the transition.

The changes to the LFS survey will be phased in progressively from the April 2026 reference month (published in May), with all sampled households transitioning to the new model by the August 2026 reference month (published in September). During this transition:

  • publication of monthly LFS data will be delayed by one week, as the ABS will be conducting additional analysis of the data to identify any unintended statistical effects.4 This will not affect the availability of LFS data ahead of the Monetary Policy Board meetings.
  • headline data series such as unemployment, employment and participation will continue to be published with no change in data quality.
  • some data series will be paused during the transition period. These include layoffs, quits, hires, and the vacancies-to-searchers ratio, which are some of the variables used to inform the RBA’s assessment of labour market tightness (see Chapter 2: Economic Conditions). The ABS is reviewing which of these series it will be able to publish during the transition period, subject to an assessment of data quality once the data are collected. Where the quality of the data is assessed to be fit for purpose, the ABS intends to publish these series, using a subset of the full sample.
  • a small number of disaggregated data series will be discontinued permanently.5 This will not affect the RBA’s capacity to assess labour market conditions.

During the transition, the RBA will continue to publish charts showing our suite of indicators of labour market tightness.6 We will indicate clearly which series are based on a subset of the full sample and which series are not updated due to the LFS transition.

What LFS data will resume after the transition.

Following the transition period, publication of all of the labour market series that the RBA monitors regularly is planned to resume. Most series will continue without material breaks, including unemployment, underemployment, employment and participation.

Endnotes

1 For more information on the RBA’s approach to assessing full employment, and the suite of labour market indicators, see RBA (2026), ‘Box A: Update on the RBA’s Approach to Assessing Full Employment’, Statement on Monetary Policy, February.

2 For a statement from the ABS about the upcoming changes, see ABS (2026), ‘Modernising the Labour Force Survey From April 2026’, Media Statement, 19 March.

3 This program of work is part of the ABS’ Data Acquisition Modernisation Program. For details about the program, see ABS (n.d.), ‘About the Data Acquisition Modernisation Program’, ABS Website.

4 For information on how the ABS will approach quality assurance during this time, see ABS (2026), ‘How the ABS Quality Assures Labour Force Data During Times of Change’, ABS Article, 16 April.

5 See ABS (2026), ‘Upcoming Changes to Labour Force Survey Outputs’, Information Paper, 19 March 2026.

6 See RBA, n 1.