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In June 2009 Australians worked an estimated 1,518,219,000 hours (1.52 billion) — down 56 million hours from June 2008 — when hours worked was almost 1.575 billion hours, according to Roy Morgan Research.

A special analysis of Roy Morgan Single Source data shows that despite substantial seasonality and monthly variation in hours worked there is a very clear downward trend. The number of hours worked in the first half of this year (January — June 2009) is 9.14 billion. This is 180 million hours less than the same period a year ago (January — June 2008, 9.32 billion).

Detailed analysis shows the reduction in aggregate hours worked in the Australian economy is not spread evenly across the economy though — there are sharp differences that show some sectors of Australian society have been more heavily impacted by falls in the aggregate hours worked during the global slowdown.

The biggest losers are:-

• Young people. (Older people are working more hours)
• Australia’s largest cities (Country areas are virtually unchanged from a year ago)
• Men (Women are in fact working more hours)
• Manufacturing, mining, construction and retail workers

Industries that have grown are: Recreation & personal, Communication and Financial, Property and Business services.

Michele Levine, Roy Morgan CEO, says:

“Since October 2008 Roy Morgan has identified and warned of the problem of under-employment in Australia (now estimated at 1.02 million Australians for July 2009). The latest estimates from Roy Morgan showing aggregate hours worked in the Australian economy show the very real impact that the global economic slowdown has had on Australia — and which States and people it has hit the hardest.

“Roy Morgan’s extensive research over the past year indicates that this downturn — while not being referred to as a ‘recession’ under the technical definition, has resulted in hardship for many Australians — especially younger people, men and those in Sydney and Melbourne.

“The dramatic fall-off in hours worked by younger Australians (under 25) shows just how hard it has been for younger Australians emerging from school and university over the past year to get a job — the contrast with the increasing hours worked by those over 35, and especially those 50+ is very apparent.

“Although aggregate hours worked has increased in Queensland, and kept steady in resource rich Western Australia and South Australia — there have been many full-time employees in New South Wales and Victoria that have been told to work fewer hours — if they want to retain their job."

This Roy Morgan survey on Australia’s aggregate hours worked is based on weekly face-to-face interviews with 78,379 Australians aged 14 and over between January 2008 — June 2009 including 30,494 Australians that completed the diary entry form.

Gender

Over the past year, total aggregate hours worked by Australian men has fallen from an average of 985,645,000 hours in the six months to June 2008 to an average of 937,355,000 in the six months to June 2009 — a fall of 48,310,000 aggregate hours per month (- 4.9%).

Women have fared much better with total aggregate hours worked by Australian women in the six months to June 2009 averaging 586,168,000 hours worked per month, up from an average in the six months to June 2008 of 567,905,000 hours — a rise of 18,263,000 aggregate hours per month (+ 3.2%).

Age

Young Australians have been most effected by the fall in hours worked in the economy as companies have stopped hiring and older employees stay longer in the workforce to make up for diminished superannuation investments.

In the six months to June 2009 Australians aged 14-24 worked an average of just 165,882,000 aggregate hours per month compared to an average of 187,288,000 aggregate hours in the six months to June 2008 — a fall of 21,406,000 aggregate hours per month (-11.4%).

However, slightly older Australians have not experienced the same drop-off with Australians aged 25-34 working an average of 367,434,000 aggregate hours per month in the six months to June 2009 compared to 354,305,000 aggregate hours per month in the six months to June 2008 — a rise of 13,129,000 aggregate hours per month (+ 3.7%).

Australian workers aged 35-49, however, have not avoided the global economic slowdown working an average of 579,487,000 aggregate hours per month in the six months to June 2009, and down from 618,711,000 aggregate hours worked per month in the six months to June 2008. This is a fall of 39,224,000 aggregate hours per month (- 6.3%).

In contrast, older workers are in fact working more hours than they did a year ago — likely a result of falls in the value of superannuation and the sharemarket due to the global financial crisis meaning older employees want to hang on to their jobs rather than retire.

Australians in the workforce aged 50+ worked an average of 410,700,000 aggregate hours per month in the six months to June 2009 compared to 393,246,000 aggregate hours in June 2008 — a rise of 17,454,000 aggregate hours per month (+ 4.4%) — a very strong rise considering the global economic slowdown.

States

Comparing Australia’s States clearly shows the global slowdown has most affected Australia’s most industrialised States — New South Wales and Victoria. Aggregate hours worked in NSW averaged 526,641,000 hours in the six months to June 2008 compared to 502,820,000 hours in the six months to June 2009 — a year over year fall of 23,821,000 hours (-4.5%).

In Victoria, aggregate hours worked in the six months to June 2009 averaged 378,099,000 hours compared to the average of 391,100,000 hours in the six months to June 2008 — a fall of 13,001,000 hours (-3.3%).

In contrast, strong growth in aggregate hours worked was recorded in the resource rich State of Queensland, while Western Australia and South Australia have barely changed over the past year. The aggregate hours worked in Queensland in the six months to June 2009 averaged 327,310,000 hours compared to 316,567,000 hours averaged in the six months to June 2008 — a rise of 10,743,000 hours (+3.4%).

In Western Australia aggregate hours worked per month in the six months to June 2009 averaged 166,677,000 hours compared to 165,196,000 hours in the six months to June 2008 — a rise of 1,481,000 hours (+0.9%) while in South Australia aggregate hours worked per month in the six months to June 2009 averaged 105,231,000 hours compared to 105,181,000 hours in the six months to June 2008 — a rise of 50,000 hours (+0.05%).

Industries

When looking at the various industries that make up the Australian economy there is clearly a wide divergence for the aggregate hours worked per month in each industry.

Changes in aggregate hours worked per month in each industry have also varied widely. Some industries have continued to grow over the past year while others including Manufacturing, Retail and Construction have really decreased in aggregate hours worked per month.

Workers in the Manufacturing industry have experienced the greatest declines with those employed in Manufacturing working an average 141,134,000 aggregate hours per month in the six months to June 2009, well down from the 173,569,000 aggregate hours per month worked in the six months to June 2008. This is a fall of 32,435,000 aggregate hours per month (-18.7%) over the past year.

Another industry to experience a big fall in aggregate hours worked per month over the past year was the Retail industry. Average aggregate hours per month worked in Retail in the six months to June 2009 were 132,603,000, well down from the 149,229,000 aggregate hours per month worked in the six months to June 2008. This is a fall of 16,626,000 aggregate hours per month (-11.1%) over the past year.

Also suffering a large fall in average aggregate hours worked per month was the Construction industry. Average aggregate hours worked per month in the Construction industry were 124,818,000 in the six months to June 2009, down from 133,015,000 average aggregate hours per month in the six months to June 2008. This is a fall of 8,197,000 aggregate hours per month (-6.2%) over the past year.

In contrast, not every industry declined in hours worked — there were a number of industries that increased their aggregate hours worked per month over the past year — including the Recreation and Personal industry, Agriculture and Communication.

Average aggregate hours worked per month in the six months to June 2009 in the Recreation and Personal industry were 100,444,000, a strong increase from the average aggregate hours worked per month in the six months to June 2008 of 84,007,000 hours. This is an increase of 16,437,000 aggregate hours worked per month (+19.6%) over the year.

Also increasing were the aggregate hours worked per month in the Agricultural industry, rising from an average aggregate hours worked per month of 49,865,000 in the six months to June 2008 to an average aggregate hours worked per month of 55,328,000 in the six months to June 2009 — an increase of 5,463,000 average aggregate hours worked per month over the year.

Capital Cities / Country Areas

Another strong trend is revealed when looking at the City/ Country divide in Australia. In Australia’s Capital Cities, aggregate hours worked in the six months to June 2009, averaged 969,618,000 hours per month — down significantly on the average of 998,148,000 aggregate hours per month worked in the six months to June 2008. This is a fall of 28,530,000 aggregate hours worked per month (- 2.9%) over the year.

This fall was not mirrored in Australia’s Country areas with workers in the country working an average of 553,884,000 aggregate hours per month in the six months to June 2009 — virtually unchanged from the 555,401,000 aggregate hours per month worked in the six months to June 2008. A fall of only 1,517,000 aggregate hours per month (- 0.3%) over the year.

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

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