Underemployment

Hansard ID: HANSARD-1323879322-97403

Hansard session: Fifty-Sixth Parliament, First Session (56-1)

Underemployment

Mr DAVID HARRIS (Wyong) (17:11:45):Sydney Morning Herald

I refer to an article that appeared in the on 20 March 2017 by Anna Patty, entitled "Underemployment skyrockets to 1.1 million Australians". In that article workplace researcher Professor John Buchanan from the University of Sydney Business School said that the number of people who are underemployed had increased from about 176,000 in the late 1970s to 1.1 million, according to Australian Bureau of Statistic figures released the previous week. In 1978 more people were unemployed than underemployed: 430,000 unemployed compared with 176,000 underemployed. Today more than 748,000 are unemployed and 1.1 million are underemployed. While unemployment reflects cyclical booms and busts in the economy, Professor Buchanan said underemployment was more structural in that employers were creating more jobs with part-time hours. He went on to say:

It is not just cyclical, it is structural, which means employers are building jobs which are dependent on part-time work and often people can't get enough hours.

It's not just a sign of a weak economy, it is a structural problem in the quality of the job offers.

The February figures show that 304,000 people across New South Wales were underemployed. The high underemployment rate deserves attention for a range of compelling social and economic reasons. On an individual level, research has found that underemployed workers are more likely to exhibit lower job satisfaction, higher job turnover, poorer mental and physical health, and persistently lower income. Furthermore, underemployed workers are overwhelmingly employed as casuals, with little job security and negligible superannuation accumulation. Banks are severely adverse to extending credit to individuals lacking secure and sufficient income, which means underemployed individuals often find themselves trapped in rental accommodation with little chance of breaking into the housing market.

Underemployment is not evenly dispersed across different demographics—for example, women are overrepresented in the underemployment figures. Another group hit hard by the growing trend is young people. Aside from women and young people, other groups found to be at risk are immigrants, people with a lower educational attainment and individuals living in rural areas. This is of concern to me and people throughout the Central Coast because the Central Coast participation rate has fluctuated between a low of 53 per cent in August 2000 and a high of 61.6 per cent in November 2006. In August 2015 the participation rate stood at 57.5 per cent on the Central Coast, below both the New South Wales participation rate of 63.3 per cent and the Greater Sydney participation rate of 65.7 per cent. The two-year average participation rates were 59.6 per cent for the Central Coast, 65.7 per cent for Greater Sydney and 63.2 per cent for all of New South Wales.

Since August 2000, the unemployment rate in the Central Coast has fluctuated between a low of 5.1 per cent in January 2011 and a high of 7.9 per cent in February 2005. In August 2015 the rate was 6.1 per cent higher than the New South Wales rate, which was 5.9 per cent, and the Greater Sydney rate, which was 5.2 per cent. The average unemployment rate for the Central Coast was 6.5 per cent, 5.3 per cent for Greater Sydney, and 5.7 per cent for New South Wales. The rate of youth unemployment for the Central Coast was also above the rate of Greater Sydney and New South Wales. In the most recent unemployment figures from March, the rate for New South Wales is 5.1 per cent while that of the Central Coast is 5.4 per cent. Youth unemployment was at 12 per cent for New South Wales and 16.6 per cent for the Central Coast.

Creating more full-time jobs has to be the number one priority for governments of any persuasion, no matter what political party is in power and whether at a State or Federal level. Recently I have begun writing to prominent organisations and retailers inviting them to visit the Central Coast and the Wyong electorate, in particular, to see the advantages of locating or relocating their operations to our area. The first targets have been Google, Costco and Ikea. The Central Coast is currently home to more than 320,000 residents and is accessible to many more potential customers in the western Lake Macquarie area, including Morisset. I will continue to talk to companies about the advantages of locating on the Central Coast to create better employment opportunities.

Mr MARK COURE (Oatley) (17:16:31):

I thank the member for Wyong for his speech on the difficulties with unemployment in the Central Coast region. The only solution to reducing unemployment on the Central Coast, across Sydney, New South Wales and Australia is a Liberal-Nationals government.

Mr David Harris:

So why are the figures going up?

Mr MARK COURE:

They are not. Members on this side of the House have seen record spending on infrastructure, education, health and transport not only in Sydney or in the southern and western suburbs but also on the Central Coast and across rural and regional Australia. That record spending on infrastructure is decreasing unemployment and increasing employment.