Dodgy unemployment figures

Unemployment figures conceal as much as they reveal

Yesterday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released Australia's unemployment figure of 4.5 percent. But the way these figures are calculated is inadequate and misleading.

They don't give an accurate measure of the true extent of under-employment in Australia.

The ABS defines people who work just one hour per week as employed.

The figures give no indication of who is actually looking for work or struggling to get by because they can only get a few hours of work each week.

How ridiculous is it to say that someone who works more than one hour per week can be meaningfully defined as employed?

As a society, we can better target support and intervention programs if we have more meaningful figures that allow us to gain a better understanding of employment and under-employment.