UNEMPLOYMENT IN AUSTRALIA

In order to debate on unemployment Australia, it is important to understand the concept of labor force. Labor force is defined as the persons that are 16 year of age and older who are either working or actively searching for work (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2003). If the person has the ability to work but isn’t working or has no interest in seeking for work, then that person is not included in the labor force. So the main factor that determines whether a person is or isn’t in the labor force is mainly the activity directed towards employment instead of the capability of holding a job. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics an unemployed person is the person who is 15 years of age and over while unemployed during the reference week and had been actively looking for full-time or part time work at any time in the four weeks and/or was waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of reference week (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013).

In order to obtain a snapshot of the unemployment rate and labor supply in Australia at a particular point in time, ABS uses the definition of unemployed described above. Unemployment rate Australia has decreased from 6.2 percent to 6.1 percent over the current year (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). The recent statistics show that the unemployment rate has fallen in the recent period but still remained at higher levels as compared to 1960s. The figure below shows that between 1966 and 2000, the number of unemployed Australians have increased from 90,300 to 596,000. In the early 1980s, there was a sharp rise in the unemployment rate while during 1989 it fell to 6%. Another rise in unemployment rate was recognized during 1990s in which it peaked at 11% in 1993 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013).

 

Figure 1: Unemployment Rates Over 1980-2014

Source: (ABS, 2015)

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