Underemployment is at its highest level since records began in the 1970s, but you won’t have heard it on the TV.
Thursday’s headlines were instead dominated by news that Australia’s official unemployment rate had fallen from 5.7 per cent in April to a four-year low of 5.5 per cent in May, based on the popular ‘seasonally adjusted’ measure.
Economists and politicians seized on this unexpected surge in full-time employment as a sign that the labour market and the broader economy were improving.
“Fifty-thousand Australians went out to get a job in May and they got one under the economic policies of the Turnbull government,” Treasurer Scott Morrison told Parliament.
“The unemployment rate now has fallen to 5.5 per cent, lower than what we inherited from the Labor Party back in 2013.”
Mr Morrison was using the seasonally adjusted measure, the usual number quoted by politicians and journalists.
However, the measure preferred by the Australian Bureau of Statistics – trend – had the unemployment rate unchanged at 5.7 per cent.
Worse still, the ABS itself drew special attention to the fact that the share of workers wanting more hours was at the highest level since modern records began in 1978. This was widely ignored.
underemployment chart abs
The trend estimate of underemployment worsened from 8.7 per cent in December-February to 8.8 per cent in March-May, which means 1.1 million Australian workers are crying out for more hours.
ABS chief economist Bruce Hockman said this figure was an important reminder of “spare capacity” in the labour market.
“The underemployment rate is an important indicator of the spare capacity of workers in Australia, and has risen for the sixth consecutive quarter to a historical high of 8.8 per cent,” Mr Hockman said.
The ABS prefers trend estimates because it says they are less volatile than seasonally adjusted numbers.
Thursday’s record-high underemployment was a symptom of growing casualisation, which many believe has deleterious effects on wages, job security and conditions.
The ABS defines a person as underemployed if they are part-time and want more hours, or if they are usually employed full-time but were forced for economic reasons to work part-time the week they were surveyed by the bureau.
Even during the 1990s recession the underemployment rate never exceeded 7 per cent.
And despite the headlines welcoming the creation of “50,000” new full-time jobs, the long-term trend of destruction of full-time positions saw no abatement in the latest quarterly data.
full time jobs vanishing
Since the late 1970s, the share of men with full-time jobs has fallen from 95 per cent to 80 per cent. Women have suffered too, with their share of full-time jobs falling by roughly the same amount, from 66 to 53 per cent.
You won’t have heard that in Question Time.
There are some people who seem angry and continuously look for conflict. Walk away, the battle they are fighting isn't with you, it's with themselves.
The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is not enough of anything to satisfy all who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics. ~ Thomas Sowell.
Who was the fool, who the wise man, who the beggar or the Emperor? Whether rich or poor, all are equal in death.
Riddle me this fuktard, If these employment figures were 100% reflective of our current economy then why are we stuck on the lowest IR's of our most recent history? I'd love to hear your explanation for that........................
Because inflation does not warrant interest rates being higher. It is as simple as that.
My only hope for my three boys is that they turn out nothing at all like Chris.
My guess would be government jobs created by increased infrastructure investment (i.e. paid for by the $1/2T credit card).
The fact that these are full time makes this look a bit suss to me.
I see 0 improvement in business conditions in Sydney (on the ground). If you look closely, few businesses are running on fundamentals and are often reliant on injections of cash from directors (i.e. feeding houses into businesses). Some of my clients recently went into administration recently and when I get the reports, it's just scary.
Let me assure you that this isn't one of those shady pyramid schemes that you've been hearing about. No sir, our model is the Trapezoid which guarantees each investor an 800% return within hours. Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. "It's an itchy blanket, it's designed to remind you how lucky you are"
Australian Property Forum is an economics and finance forum dedicated to discussion of Australian and global real estate markets and macroeconomics, including house prices, housing affordability, and the likelihood of a property crash. Is there an Australian housing bubble? Will house prices crash, boom or stagnate? Is the Australian property market a pyramid scheme or Ponzi scheme? Can house prices really rise forever? These are the questions we address on Australian Property Forum, the premier real estate site for property bears, bulls, investors, and speculators. Members may also discuss matters related to finance, modern monetary theory (MMT), debt deflation, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin Ethereum and Ripple, property investing, landlords, tenants, debt consolidation, reverse home equity loans, the housing shortage, negative gearing, capital gains tax, land tax and macro prudential regulation.
Forum Rules:
The main forum may be used to discuss property, politics, economics and finance, precious metals, crypto currency, debt management, generational divides, climate change, sustainability, alternative energy, environmental topics, human rights or social justice issues, and other topics on a case by case basis. Topics unsuitable for the main forum may be discussed in the lounge. You agree you won't use this forum to post material that is illegal, private, defamatory, pornographic, excessively abusive or profane, threatening, or invasive of another forum member's privacy. Don't post NSFW content. Racist or ethnic slurs and homophobic comments aren't tolerated. Accusing forum members of serious crimes is not permitted. Accusations, attacks, abuse or threats, litigious or otherwise, directed against the forum or forum administrators aren't tolerated and will result in immediate suspension of your account for a number of days depending on the severity of the attack. No spamming or advertising in the main forum. Spamming includes repeating the same message over and over again within a short period of time. Don't post ALL CAPS thread titles. The Advertising and Promotion Subforum may be used to promote your Australian property related business or service. Active members of the forum who contribute regularly to main forum discussions may also include a link to their product or service in their signature block. Members are limited to one actively posting account each. A secondary account may be used solely for the purpose of maintaining a blog as long as that account no longer posts in threads. Any member who believes another member has violated these rules may report the offending post using the report button.
Australian Property Forum complies with ASIC Regulatory Guide 162 regarding Internet Discussion Sites. Australian Property Forum is not a provider of financial advice. Australian Property Forum does not in any way endorse the views and opinions of its members, nor does it vouch for for the accuracy or authenticity of their posts. It is not permitted for any Australian Property Forum member to post in the role of a licensed financial advisor or to post as the representative of a financial advisor. It is not permitted for Australian Property Forum members to ask for or offer specific buy, sell or hold recommendations on particular stocks, as a response to a request of this nature may be considered the provision of financial advice.
Views expressed on this forum are not representative of the forum owners. The forum owners are not liable or responsible for comments posted. Information posted does not constitute financial or legal advice. The forum owners accept no liability for information posted, nor for consequences of actions taken on the basis of that information. By visiting or using this forum, members and guests agree to be bound by the Zetaboards Terms of Use.
This site may contain copyright material (i.e. attributed snippets from online news reports), the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such content is posted to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues. This constitutes 'fair use' of such copyright material as provided for in section 107 of US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed for research and educational purposes only. If you wish to use this material for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Such material is credited to the true owner or licensee. We will remove from the forum any such material upon the request of the owners of the copyright of said material, as we claim no credit for such material.
Privacy Policy: Australian Property Forum uses third party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our site. These third party advertising companies may collect and use information about your visits to Australian Property Forum as well as other web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here: Google Advertising Privacy FAQ
Australian Property Forum is hosted by Zetaboards. Please refer also to the Zetaboards Privacy Policy