The figures are in : 18% of the workforce are unemployed or under-employed

Despite all the new jobs we’re creating, there are more Australians unemployed than the ABS would have us believe.

According to Roy Morgan Research in October 1.226 million Australians were unemployed (9.5% of the workforce); an increase of 38,000 (up 0.3%) on a year ago.

A further 1.108 million Australians (8.5% of the workforce) are now under-employed and looking for work or looking for more work, a fall of 158,000 (1.4%) in a year. 

• 2.334 million Australians (18% of the workforce) were unemployed or under-employed in October with the good news being this marked the first year-over-year drop in the overall figure since July this year.

• 11,767,000 Australians were employed in October – an increase of 104,000 over the past year (this represents an average of almost 8,700 jobs added per month);

• The increase in employment over the past year was driven by an increase in full-time employment which rose 120,000 to 7,714,000 while part-time employment was largely unchanged at 4,053,000 (down 16,000);

• Roy Morgan real unemployment figures of 9.5% for October are substantially higher than the current ABS estimate for September 2017 (5.5%).

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source October 2005 – October 2017. Average monthly interviews 4,000.

Gary Morgan, Executive Chairman, Roy Morgan Research, says employment growth has moderated in the latter half of 2017:

“Although employment growth in Australia has continued throughout 2017, today’s Roy Morgan employment estimates for October confirm a definite moderation in employment growth in recent months.  

Year-over-year employment growth in Australia during the first six months of the year averaged an impressive 411,000 new jobs, however this employment growth has slowed in each month since June and during the last four months has averaged year-over-year growth of only 155,000 jobs.

Unfortunately for those Australians looking for work, or looking for more work, the brisk employment growth earlier in 2017 failed to make a dent in the over 2 million Australians unemployed or under-employed.

In October now 2.3 million (18.0% of the workforce) Australians are unemployed – 1.2 million (9.5%); or under-employed – 1.1 million (8.5%).

Despite the slow-down in new jobs, over the last 12 months the Australian economy added 120,000 full-time jobs equal to 10,000 full-time jobs per month whereas part-time employment contracted by about 1,000 jobs per month.

AT the same time more Australians began looking for work resulting in an increase in the workforce of 142,000 in the last 12 months.

It should be recalled that October marked the closure of the Australian automotive manufacturing industry with Toyota manufacturing its final car in Melbourne on October 6 and Holden closing its Adelaide manufacturing facilities two weeks later on October 20.

In addition to the two prominent car manufacturers there are considerable flow-on employment effects to several parts manufacturers and suppliers that will have a significant impact particularly on the employment markets in South Australia and Victoria”.

*The ‘under-employed’ are those people who are in part-time work or consultants who are looking for more work. (Unfortunately the ABS does not release this figure in their monthly unemployment survey results).

Source: Roy Morgan Research