KEY FINDINGS
PARTICIPATION POTENTIAL
In February 2017, the Participation, Job Search and Mobility (PJSM) survey estimated that of the civilian population aged 15 years and over, 6.6 million persons were not in the labour force, 819,400 were unemployed and 12.0 million persons were employed.
Of the 6.6 million persons not in the labour force:
- 59% were females;
- 15% were aged 15–24 years, 38% were aged 25–64 years and 47% were aged 65 years and over;
- 985,100 wanted to work but were not actively looking for work and were available to start work last week or within four weeks, of whom 63% were females; and
- the main activity was retired (39%) followed by home duties (14%) and attending an educational institution (14%). Of those doing home duties 87% were females. (Datacube 8 and 9)
Of the 819,400 unemployed persons:
- 52% were males;
- 194,800 persons (24%) had been looking for work for 1 year or more; and
- 21% were aged 25–34. (Datacube 14 and 16)
Of the 12.0 million employed persons:
- 91% were fully employed; and
- 1.1 million were underemployed. (Datacube 21)
Of the 1.1 million underemployed workers:
- 1,039,100 persons (92%) usually worked part-time, but would prefer more hours and were available to start work with more hours either in the reference week, or in the four weeks following the interview; and
- 91,600 usually worked full-time (8%), but worked part-time hours in the reference week due to economic reasons (for example no work or not enough work available, been stood down). (Datacube 2, 3, and 21)
JOB SEARCH
Of the 819,400 unemployed persons who looked for work in the reference period:
- 58% looked for both full-time and part-time work;
- 11% looked for full-time work only; and
- 31% looked for part-time work only. (Datacube 14)
There were 2.2 million job starters (employed persons who had started their current job in the previous 12 months). Of these job starters, the highest proportion of steps taken to look for work or more hours were:
- 15% looked at advertisements for jobs on the internet, in a newspaper or on noticeboards;
- 14% wrote, phoned or applied in person to an employer for work; and
- 12% answered an advertisement for a job on the internet, in a newspaper or on noticeboards. (Datacube 13)
LABOUR MOBILITY
Of the 2.2 million job starters, 1.3 million were not working in February 2016,
while 925,700 were working, but had changed their employer/business in the last 12 months. Of these:
- 71% changed their usual weekly hours worked;
- 55% changed industry division; and
- 35% had a change in their status of employment. (Datacube 18)
There were 9.9 million persons working in February 2017 who had been with their current employer/business for more than one year. Of these persons:
- 81% were employees;
- 25% were professionals; and
- 13% worked in the Health care and social assistance industry division. (Datacube 19 and 20)
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