This Roy Morgan survey on Australia’s unemployment and ‘under-employed’* is based on weekly face-to-face interviews of 551,410 Australians aged 14 and over between January 2007 – September 2017 and includes 3,986 face-to-face interviews in September 2017.

2.498 million (18.9%) Australians were unemployed or under-employed in September – marking two whole years (24 straight months) more than 2 million Australians have been looking for work or looking for more work;





11,972,000 Australians were employed in September – an increase of 143,000 over the past year (this represents an average of 11,900 jobs added per month);





The increase in employment over the past year was driven by a large jump in part-time employment which rose 433,000 to 4,375,000 offsetting a decrease in full-time employment which fell 290,000 to 7,597,000 during the same period;





Roy Morgan real unemployment figures of 9.1% for September are substantially higher than the current ABS estimate for August 2017 (5.6%).

: Roy Morgan Single Source October 2005 – September 2017. Average monthly interviews 4,000.



Gary Morgan, Executive Chairman, Roy Morgan Research, says the growth in part-time employment is obscuring the stagnation of Australian full-time employment:

“The Roy Morgan employment estimates have consistently shown the Australian economy is generating new jobs, however the increase in employment is heavily concentrated in part-time jobs rather than full-time – and that trend has continued. “Over the past year a net 143,000 new jobs were created since September 2016 – however this increase consisted of 433,000 part-time jobs (about 37,000 per month) and a stagnation in full-time employment which fell 290,000 (about 24,000 per month) during the same period. “These trends explain why 2.498 million Australians (18.9% of the workforce) are either unemployed – 1.202 million (9.1%) or under-employed – 1.296 million (9.8%). September marks two straight years with more than 2 million Australians looking for work or looking for more work. “September also marked the fourth anniversary of the election of the Abbott/Turnbull Government and since September 2013 full-time employment has increased only 184,000 to 7,597,000 (growth of about 4,000 full-time jobs per month) whilst part-time employment is up a massive 618,000 to 4,375,000 (about 13,000 part-time jobs per month). “Unfortunately the increasing problem of persistent and rising under-employment won’t be helped by the closure this month of Australia’s final automotive manufacturing factories with Holden and Toyota shutting their doors, and nor will employers be looking to put on more workers when they consider the rising cost of energy which is a direct result of energy policy mismanagement by both State and Federal Governments.”

This Roy Morgan survey on Australia’s unemployment and ‘under-employed’* is based on weekly face-to-face interviews of 551,410 Australians aged 14 and over between January 2007 – September 2017 and includes 3,986 face-to-face interviews in September 2017.

*The ‘under-employed’ are those people who are in part-time work or consultants who are looking for more work. (Unfortunately the ABS does not release this figure in their monthly unemployment survey results).

Roy Morgan Unemployed and ‘Under-employed’* Estimates

Unemployed or ‘Under-employed’* Unemployed Unemployed looking for ‘Under-employed’* Full-time Part-time 2016 ‘000 % ‘000 % ‘000 ‘000 ‘000 % Jan-Mar 2016 2,496 19.1 1,362 10.4 639 723 1,134 8.7 Apr-Jun 2016 2,322 18.1 1,317 10.2 637 680 1,005 7.8 Jul-Sep 2016 2,296 17.8 1,266 9.8 574 692 1,030 8.0 Oct-Dec 2016 2,446 18.9 1,191 9.2 635 556 1,255 9.7 2017 Jan-Mar 2017 2,377 17.9 1,261 9.5 591 670 1,116 8.4 Apr-Jun 2017 2,525 19.0 1,234 9.3 607 627 1,291 9.7 Jul-Sep 2017 2,508 19.1 1,254 9.6 598 656 1,254 9.5 Months August 2016 2,249 17.5 1,332 10.4 544 788 917 7.1 September 2016 2,103 16.2 1,101 8.5 532 569 1,002 7.7 October 2016 2,454 19.1 1,188 9.2 626 562 1,266 9.9 November 2016 2,299 17.6 1,199 9.2 629 570 1,100 8.4 December 2016 2,584 20.0 1,186 9.2 650 536 1,398 10.8 January 2017 2,402 17.9 1,295 9.7 634 661 1,107 8.2 February 2017 2,390 17.9 1,253 9.4 576 677 1,137 8.5 March 2017 2,340 17.7 1,236 9.3 563 673 1,104 8.4 April 2017 2,307 17.6 1,217 9.3 612 605 1,090 8.3 May 2017 2,622 20.0 1,284 9.8 659 625 1,338 10.2 June 2017 2,645 19.6 1,200 8.9 550 650 1,445 10.7 July 2017 2,462 18.8 1,236 9.4 568 668 1,226 9.4 August 2017 2,565 19.7 1,324 10.2 639 685 1,241 9.5 September 2017 2,498 18.9 1,202 9.1 586 616 1,296 9.8

*Workforce includes those employed and those looking for work – the unemployed.



For further information: