Aust, workforce ‘under-used’

Press, 24 October 1984, Page 24

Aust, workforce ‘under-used’

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney The Australian workforce is under-used and a new measure of unemployment could boost the over-all jobless figure to twice the present rate, according to a report. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is looking at making substantial, changes to the way it measures unemployment and has quietly released an analysis of recent figures to test the reaction. The report showed that under use of the Australian workforce last yeai; climbed to 13.7 per cent, or more than 870,000 people, and that taking hidden unemployment into account, there were 1.48 million people or 18.9 per cent of the workforce out of a job in August 1983. The new ways of looking at employment include measures of under-employ-ment and under-use of workers in response to dramatic changes in the labour market and the concept of structured work. The bureau said in its report that in August 1983, 265,900 people (3.8 per cent

of the workforce) were under-employed, with most of them part-time workers wanting to work more hours. In 1966 . the figure amounted to 1.1 per cent. The “Australian Financial Review” said that added to the 9.9 per cent official unemployment rate, the under-used workforce amounted to 13.7 per cent, but had dropped to 12 per cent by August this year. The statistics office said it had traditionally classed people as being employed, unemployed, or not in the labour force, but that many people in the last category wanted jobs but were not classed as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work. This category included discouraged job seekers who the bureau said numbered 118,200 in September last year — the vast majority of them women. It said that more than 60 per cent of these people had either never had a regular job or not had one for at least three years. The bureau also gave a range of estimates for hidden unemployment, using

the classification of people “marginally attached to the labour force.” In September last year these people numbered 647,400, which added to the number out of work at the time would have amounted to 18.9 per cent of the workforce. The marginal group included people actively looking for work but unavailable to start within four weeks, and those who wanted a job, were available to start work but were not actively looking. The bureau’s publication also shows a big change in the occupation market during the last generation, such as the drop in people working in manufacturing and a big rise in community service jobs such as in health and education. Between August 1966 and August 1983, community service employment grew more than 120 per cent while another big growth area was finance, property, and business services which grew about 95 per cent. Manufacturing employment, however, fell about 8 per cent after rising until 1973.