Part-time work and under-employment the “numbers” to watch in 2009
| Finding No. 4352 -
This special Roy Morgan study Australian unemployment and ‘under-employment’ was conducted face-to-face between October – December 2008, with an Australia-wide cross-section of 12,902 Australians aged 14 and over.:
January 16, 2009 |
Throughout the last quarter of 2008 (October to December) almost 1.5 million Australians were either unemployed or under-employed (working part-time but wanting to work full-time or more hours) according to the monthly Roy Morgan Unemployment Survey.
A special analysis of the characteristics of these people shows substantive differences by subgroups in society and real ‘pockets of pain’.
While the vast majority of the male workforce is employed full-time (76.9%) only 48% of the female workforce is full-time (45.1% are part-time) and 6.8% are unemployed. One-in-ten women (9.6%) in the workforce are part-timers looking for more work (full-time or more hours). This is almost twice the under-employed recorded for males (5.4%).
The analysis is also enlightening on the topical issue of Public Servants - Public Servants are more likely to be employed full-time than those in Private Industry, and much less likely to want to work more hours. Almost one-in-10 (629,000) people employed in Private Industry are part-timers who would like extra work, while around half that - one-in-twenty people (126,000) employed in the Public Service are wanting more hours.
|
Roy Morgan Unemployed and ‘Under-employed’* Estimate
(October — December 2008) — Analysis by Gender of the Workforce |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
Male |
Female |
| |
‘000 % |
‘000 % |
‘000 % |
|
Employed |
Full-time |
7,000 64.0 |
4,655 76.9 |
2,345 48.0 |
|
Part-time |
3,259 29.8 |
1,055 17.4 |
2,204 45.1 |
|
Under-employed
Employed Part-time and want more work
|
800 7.3 |
330 5.4 |
470 9.6 |
|
Unemployed |
674 6.2 |
340 5.6 |
333 6.8 |
|
Unemployed /Under-employed |
1,474 13.5 |
670 11.1 |
802 16.4 |
|
Total Workforce |
10,933 100.0 |
6,050 100.0 |
4,882 100.0 |
|
Roy Morgan Unemployed and ‘Under-employed’* Estimate
(October — December 2008) — Analysis by Sector of the Employed Workforce |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Public Service |
Private Industry |
Self-Employed |
| |
‘000 % |
‘000 % |
‘000 % |
|
Employed |
Full-time |
1,725 72.6 |
4,693 66.8 |
582 67.9 |
|
Part-time |
651 27.4 |
2,333 33.2 |
275 32.1 |
|
Under-employed
Employed Part-time and want more work
|
126 5.3 |
629 9.0 |
43 5.1 |
|
Total Employed |
2,376 100.0 |
7,026 100.0 |
857 100.0 |
The analysis shows under-employment and unemployment is higher among those groups in the workforce who are:
- Younger (30% of workforce under 24) is under-employed or unemployed versus 8% aged 50+);
- Renting (21% versus 10% of owners or those paying off);
- Lower education (over 20% of those with primary or lower secondary school education versus 10% for tertiary qualified);
- Country areas (15% versus 12.5% in Capital cities).
- Unskilled workforce (30% versus 2.5% among those from professional and managerial positions)
Michele Levine says:
“With high and improving levels of Consumer Confidence, the real issue for 2009 is employment — and ‘under-employment’ (people who have part-time work and are looking for full-time work or more hours) is as important as unemployment. Unfortunately this issue has not been understood by the Government or those trying to predict the economic outlook for Australia.
“Up until late 2007 with a booming economy, and relatively low levels of unemployment, the focus was on ‘labour shortage’ and ‘skills shortage’. These problems can and did co-exist with unemployment and under-employment; and unfortunately, went unrecognised and/or were not dealt with, at least partly because the ‘accepted’ numbers were wrong.
“Roy Morgan has for some time been reporting on real unemployment which is higher than the official ABS estimates; and highlighting the crucial issue of part-time employment, specifically focussing on ‘under-employment’ - those people who are working part-time but want to work full-time or at least more hours than they are currently working.
“The special analysis shows the importance of understanding the real employment situation — not just using a single measure that obscures the real facts. Facts like almost 1.5 million Australians who are unemployed or under-employed.
“Under-employment varies greatly by industry with the real problem industries being ‘retail’ (170,000 or 14% under-employed) and ‘hospitality’ and the broader recreational and personal services industries (177,000 or 20% under-employed). A further 254,000 people or 9.5% of those employed in community services are also under-employed. However, a major determinant of under-employment appears to be skill level — with 18% of unskilled workers being under-employed Vs less than 2% of those in professional or managerial positions.
"Of the unemployed, 36% (243,000) are semi-skilled or unskilled, and 15% (103,000) have never been employed."
This special Roy Morgan study Australian unemployment and ‘under-employment’ was conducted face-to-face between October — December 2008, with an Australia-wide cross-section of 12,902 Australians aged 14 and over.
For further information:
Gary Morgan: Office +61 3 9224 5213 Mobile +61 411 129 094
Michele Levine: Office +61 3 9224 5215 Mobile +61 411 129 093
Margin of Error
The following table gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
|
Sample Size |
Percentage Estimate |
|
|
40%-60% |
25% or 75% |
10% or 90% |
5% or 95% |
|
5,000 |
±1.4 |
±1.2 |
±0.8 |
±0.6 |
|
10,000 |
±1 |
±0.9 |
±0.6 |
±0.4 |
|
