What are the REAL unemployment numbers?
So if the REAL rate is three times more than the published rate, that would make unemployment at around 15.5%, which I still think is a conservative estimate.
Roy Morgan are saying it's double the government figures. Anyway, take your pick, unemployment is damn high with youth unemployment tipping the scales at 49.8% in Sydney's west.
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Australia's jobless figures need some workWhat does it take to have a job in Australia?
Turns out just 60 minutes employment in the particular week of the month that the number crunchers in Canberra are out in force are all one needs to appear in the "employed" half of the ledger.
Why forecasting is a mug's game
Oddly enough, this statistical quirk dates back to the 1950s when full-time work was the norm, particularly if you were male.
Still, the catch-all category may go some way to explaining how Australia's unemployment rate remains around 5 per cent, in jarring contrast to the experiences of many.
The mismatch between official statistics and the reality of many Australians can be explained by the definition of “work.”
According to the ABS: “Work is taken to mean work for one hour or more during the reference week, undertaken for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind, in a job, business or farm, or without pay in a family business or farm.”
Self-employed Melbourne vehicle refitter Jim Ioannidis dismisses that definition as "absurd."
"You would think the the real rate of unemployment is at least three times the published rate," Mr Ioannidis said. "Things are definitely tough out there."
The ABS said its employees definitions used by the International Labour Organisation that were established in 1982, although the underlying measure goes back to 1954.
Economists reckon the definition of work needs an overhaul.
“One hour of work doesn't contribute much to the labour force,” said National Australia Bank economist Ali Knight.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/australias-jobless-figures-need-some-work-2012051...Australian unemployment rate twice official figure, according to Roy Morgan research AUSTRALIA'S real unemployment rate is twice the official figure and the Reserve Bank must urgently cut interest rates, says the nation's biggest research firm.
A Roy Morgan Research snapshot of more than 4500 people in April put the national unemployment rate at 9.3 per cent.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/australian-unemployment-rate-twice-official...