Fri. Nov 22nd, 2024
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The federal government will put “full employment” at the heart of Australia’s policy frameworks and institutions, to drive down structural unemployment over time and keep unemployment as low as possible.

In its Employment White Paper, released on Monday, it says the current definition of full employment is too narrow.

It says policymakers needs to acknowledge the reality of underemployment and under-utilisation in the economy, and the impact they’ve had on communities across the country.

In its paper, the government says it plans to use the policy tools available to remove barriers to work, to help Australians acquire the skills they need, and to ensure people have secure jobs that are fairly paid.

It says that will help to drive down structural unemployment, and help the economy sustain much lower levels of labour market under-utilisation over time.

It will help the Reserve Bank to sustain much lower levels of unemployment, it says.

What is full employment?

The white paper says how we define, measure, and pursue full employment has significant consequences for people.

And talk of full employment needs to account for the reality of underemployment and under-utilisation in the economy.

It says for every person in Australia who is classified in the labour force statistics as unemployed, there are four others who want to work but aren’t working, or who want to work more hours.

In Australia right now:

  • 0.5 million people are officially classified as unemployed. That is, they want to work, have been actively seeking work, and are available to work.
  • But an additional 1.3 million people want to work but have not been actively looking, or are not immediately available to work, for various reasons. Along with the unemployed, these workers are classified as “potential workers”.
  • And 1 million workers in jobs, would like to work more hours, but cannot get access to them. These workers are classified as being underemployed.

Together, the hours those people would like to work represent the equivalent of 1.4 million full-time jobs.

The government makes it clear in its white paper that it wants to broaden the concept of full employment to include the reality of that labour market under-utilisation.

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