whiteknight
Gold Member
Online
Australian Politics
Posts: 8131
melbourne
Gender:
|
Not meeting demand’: State with worst job availability revealed A new report reveals a staggeringly low number of jobs up for grabs in Australia, with one state reporting far more people available to work than there are jobs.
News.com.au December 4, 2024
A new report has revealed the worst state for unemployment, and says the same people are being blocked from getting entry-level and low-skilled jobs every year.
According to this year’s Job Availability Snapshot report released by Anglicare Australia, while there has been talk of a strong labour market throughout the country, the same cannot be said for those with barriers to work.
For every entry-level job available on the market, there are 33 people out of work.
What’s more, two-thirds (68 per cent) of people out of work are long-term unemployed and have been looking for work for an average of four years without luck.
A new report has revealed there is an average 33 people for every job listing in Australia.
This situation is the worst in the Northern Territory, where there are 65 people for every job, followed by Tasmania, where there are 50 people for every job.
In third place is South Australia, which reports 43 people for every job listed, followed by Victoria with 35, NSW with 34 and Western Australia with 32 people for every job.
Queensland and the ACT had the lowest of the other states, reporting 29 and 17 people for every job, respectively.
More Aussies picking up a second job
As the cost-of-living crisis continues to cripple the nation, the report found that people are taking up a second job at a staggering new level.
In June 2024, 6.9 per cent of Australians held more than one job, one of the highest rates since 1996.
On average, those who work more than one job earn 14 per cent less annually than those with a single full-time job, even though they are likely to put in on average 13 more hours than a full-time position.
“Australians have heard a lot of rhetoric over the years about full employment and a fair go,” said executive director Kasy Chambers.
“But our Snapshot shows that the employment system has given up on people who need the most help to find work,”
Those who need the most help include people living with disabilities, people who didn’t complete year 12 and older workers who may have lost their job later in life.
“They need entry-level jobs to get a start, but there aren’t enough of these to meet demand in any part of the country,” said Ms Chambers.
“With such tight numbers, people with barriers to work barely stand a chance.”
Since 2016, more than 500,000 people have a barrier to work, and rely on services like Jobseeker while they look for a job.
There are currently 828,545 recipients of Jobseeker, with 62.1 per cent of recipients collecting payments for over a year.
There aren’t enough entry-level jobs to meet demand.
This figure has dropped 6.9 per cent since August 2023, but Ms Chambers argued more needs to be done to protect those who are looking for employment.
Despite running “a gauntlet of interviews, reporting and training courses”, people are being “churned through Australia’s employment and welfare system without getting help they need” or landing a job.
Ms Chambers said the nation’s employment system needs to be overhauled so those seeking work are prioritised, not punished.
“Private providers are being paid millions of dollars to run this system without delivering results,” she said.
“It’s also clear that we need to lift Jobseeker and other Centrelink payments. Nobody should be trapped in poverty while they look for work.”
|