More than a million unemployed Australians job ready as 'deeply concerning' data released

Australia Broadcast Center

4 days ago

One in 10 Australians have been in their current job for more than 20 years, as the national job mobility rate decreased for a second year.
Just under 8 per cent of employed people – 1.1 million workers – changed jobs in the past year, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
At the same time, the annual retrenchment rate – the number of employees dismissed for financial reasons – increased to 1.9 per cent.
About 2.2 million people left or lost their jobs for various reasons.
The numbers have been labelled "deeply concerning" by social services advocates, who have called for an overhaul in the employment sector.
ABS head of statistics Sean Crick said there was a "small decrease" in job mobility to 7.7 per cent.
The figure is down from 8 per cent last year, and 9.6 per cent in 2023.
"This follows a rise in job mobility over the COVID period, where the job mobility rate increased to 9.6 per cent in February 2023," Mr Crick said.
"Of the 1.1 million who changed jobs during the year to February 2025, almost two-thirds (62 per cent) remained in the same occupation."
An ABS spokesperson told the ABC the job mobility rate had spiked "leading up to the recession of the early 90s" to almost 20 per cent.
"[This was before] declining considerably during the recession, down to around 12 per cent," they said.
"Since then, it has declined to under 8 per cent.
"Job mobility, underemployment and potential workers have declined a bit over the last few years.
"Like unemployment, potential workers and underemployment tend to follow the business cycle, so have had periods of increasing and decreasing.'
There were 1.7 million people not working but wanting to work as of February 2025 – labelled "potential workers".
Of those potential workers, more than 1 million were available to start work in the previous week before being surveyed.
Another 311,300 were available to start within four weeks.
"People who were unavailable to work in the short to medium term may not begin looking for work until it is closer to the time when they will be able to work,' the ABS said.
"There were 596,100 people who wanted to work, were available to start either immediately or within four weeks, but did not actively look for work."
The main reasons those potential workers gave included attending education and needing childcare.
Australian Council of Social Services chief executive Cassandra Goldie said there was a "clear mismatch" in the labour market.
"There is … a steady decline in entry-level jobs making it harder for people to transition into paid employment, especially those on income support," she told the ABC.
"People are struggling to look for work while surviving on woefully low JobSeeker payments that trap them into poverty.
"It's hard to look for work if you can't afford rent, transport, internet or even food."
There were also 719,300 people permanently unable to work.
Dr Goldie said the government needed to "move beyond punitive compliance" and "deliver real solutions" for employment.
"We need to overhaul employment services and invest in tailored, quality employment programs that support people to transition into secure, suitable work, lift income support payments to liveable levels and a commitment to ambitious employment targets," she said.
"We also need to end harmful payment suspensions and cancellations, which damage people's capacity to find employment."
Many jobseekers also reported feeling discouraged when it came to searching for work.
They cited concerns about qualifications, age and health conditions as their main barriers to finding employment.
This was in line with ACOSS's 2024 Faces of Unemployment report, which found people with a disability or health concerns were also likely to be older, with both factors putting them at higher risk of long-term unemployment.
"We know that people with partial work capacity, older people and First Nations people face persistent barriers to paid work, including workplace discrimination, a lack of appropriate roles in their communities, and employment services that are failing to support them," Dr Goldie said.
"The decline in job mobility combined with high numbers of job losses is deeply concerning. For people on low incomes or facing disadvantage in the labour market, it often means they are being shut out completely.
This month the ABS reported the unemployment rate had risen to 4.3 per cent in June.
This meant there were an additional 34,000 unemployed people nationwide.
Along with unemployed people, the ABS also released new data relating to "underemployed" workers.
This referred to those who had either worked less than their usual hours or those who would prefer to work more than they usually did.
As of February 2025, there were 818,900 part-time workers who wanted to work more hours, "with almost half preferring to work full-time".
Of the total 1.5 million underemployed people, 321,100 had had their hours reduced.