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Skip Navigation LinksLabour Market Statistics and Publications > Concepts > Seasonal Adjustment Uses
Seasonal Adjustment Uses
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Uses

Seasonal adjustment helps us make a more meaningful analysis of the trends in a data series, especially for those with strong seasonal patterns.

For example, consider the unemployment rate data in the following chart. As unemployment rate is usually high in June, it is difficult to ascertain if the increase in non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from 2.1% in March 2010 to 2.8% in June 2010 was a reflection of economic conditions or due to seasonal factors. After removing the seasonal component from the data series, we see that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate had in fact declined from 2.3% in March 2010 to 2.2% in June 2010, suggesting that the underlying unemployment situation was broadly stable.

Overall Unemployment Rate
 
Note: The seasonally adjusted unemployment figures are subject to annual revisions when the latest set of seasonal factors is updated, taking into account observations for the latest available year. The most up-to-date data can be accessed h​ere.