The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released its Participation, Job Search and Mobility survey for the year to February 2016, which revealed that there were more than one million Australians that would like to work more hours:
One million Australians want more hours of work, according to the latest results from the ABS’ Participation, Job Search and Mobility Survey.
In February 2016 there were one million underemployed workers, of whom 945,400 worked part-time. A further 76,700 usually worked full-time, but worked part-time in the reference week due to economic reasons, such as being stood down or insufficient work being available.
“Around 34 per cent of underemployed part-time workers aged 15–19 had experienced insufficient work for one year or more; this was compared to 56 per cent aged 45 years and over,” said Jacqui Jones, Program Manager of Labour and Income Branch from the ABS.
The average preferred number of extra hours per week for underemployed part-time workers was 13.5 hours.
Females made up 60 per cent of all underemployed part-time workers.
“Of the underemployed part-time workers, 551,700 had a non-school qualification. Of these, 37 per cent had a bachelor degree or higher,” said Ms Jones.
The latest quarterly employment data, current to August 2016, suggested that underemployment has worsened since this survey, with 1.1 million underemployed workers reported and a underemployment rate at a record high 8.6%:
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Elsewhere in this survey, the ABS reported that there are also one million people with marginal attachment to the workforce that are not captured by the official participation rate:
Labour force participation includes those persons of working-age in an economy who in the reference period are:
employed; or
unemployed but actively looking for a job and available to start.
By analysing the characteristics of those persons not participating in the labour force it can provide insights into Australia’s potential labour force…
Persons who are marginally attached to the labour force satisfy some, but not all, of the criteria required to be classified as unemployed.
Persons not in the labour force are considered to be marginally attached to the labour force if they:
wanted to work and were actively looking for work (but, unlike unemployed persons, were not available to start work in the reference week); or
wanted to work and were not actively looking for work but were available to start work within four weeks…
In February 2016, there were 1 million persons with marginal attachment to the labour force, this represented 16% of persons not in the labour force.
Of those with marginal attachment to the labour force:
63% were females;
94% were not actively looking for work, but were available to start work within four weeks;
the highest proportion were aged 15–24 years (31%). (Datacube 7)
There were 803,700 persons with marginal attachment to the labour force who had worked before. Of these, 37% had worked less than 12 months ago, and a further 21% had worked one to two years ago.
The graph below outlines selected main activities of the 1 million persons with marginal attachment to the labour force. The highest proportions were 27% attending an educational institution, 22% doing home duties and 19% caring for children.
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
