Both sides of our politics have declared jobs as their primary focus, as conveyed by the government's slogan "Jobs and Growth", and the Opposition's "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs".

Both prattle on wanting to create the impression that they are better than the other at "creating" jobs, and ensuring job security, but neither provides much detail as to just "how": which policies, which industries, at what pace, and over what time period. The government focuses on its "massive" corporate tax cuts, to stimulate investment, that in turn is claimed will create jobs and improve wages, while the Opposition emphasises education and training as fundamentally important. But, that's about all we are told.

What if it is unlikely that either will ever succeed? What if there are structural shifts in our economy and society such that there won't ever be enough jobs to meet the desires of those who wish to work?

While today's unemployment rate of 5.8 per cent is still well above the 4 per cent we saw pre GFC, it is about half the peak of the early 1990s. However, there has been a longer-term drift from full to part-time work, and a considerable increase in underemployment, that is in those who can't find as much work as they would like, approaching double the unemployment rate.