Underemployment and overemployment at the same time? It is happening, and it could be keeping you from a wage rise.

Key points: ABS figures show almost 14pc of Australians are either underemployed or unemployed altogether

ABS figures show almost 14pc of Australians are either underemployed or unemployed altogether At the same time, one-in-five workers spend more than 45 hours a week on the job, while 300,000 perform 70+ hours of work

At the same time, one-in-five workers spend more than 45 hours a week on the job, while 300,000 perform 70+ hours of work An Australia Institute study found that Australians work an average of six hours unpaid work each week

"It's basically two different sides of the stress coin," said labour force economist Conrad Liveris.

"There's people who are desperate for more [hours at work] and there are people who are struggling to even keep a semblance of a life."

For jobseeker Mitch, the problem is not theoretical.

With just one shift a week working for a large retailer, the stress of being underemployed consumes his days.

"I don't know what to do with my life. It also affects me because I feel bad, that I can't actually pay people pay back or just pay bills," he said.

"I can't manage to do any of that — that's what makes me feel bad."

Melinda Walker has the opposite problem. When the criminal lawyer's alarm goes off, there's a "4" on the screen.

She works on a laptop during her 90-minute commute, and does not stop all day.

"Probably 12 to 13 hours a day I'd say, at least, if you wanted to add that up to a week, maybe 60, 70 hours a week in total," she told The Business.

"That includes work time in the office and outside time … taking phone calls or answering emails."

Mitch says the stress of being underemployed consumes his days. ( ABC News: Daniel Ziffer )

Conrad Liveris describes it as a "two-speed workforce", that leaves no-one happy.

"You're either running around stressed about paying your bills or you're losing your relationships with people around you — and the only life you have is that of work.

"Both of them are incredibly sad and frustrated, and you know they're basically linked."

Official ABS statistics reveal the "underutilisation" rate in the workforce — a key measure combining people who are unemployed and those who want more hours of work — is now almost 14 per cent.

That is happening even as the nation's unemployment rate approaches 5 per cent, a rate that used to be widely considered to be full employment.

One potential factor is growth in the hours worked by some segments of the population.

Australians work among the longest hours in the world and experts argue it is hampering wage growth, increasing stress across the nation and making it harder for people trying to get into the job market.

"People are starting to wake-up, we do have a serious working time problem," said Professor John Buchanan, chair of the business analytics discipline at the University of Sydney's business school.

"We work amongst the longest hours, we've got amongst the highest proportion of part-time workers, and amongst many of those part-timers they want to work more hours."

Professor John Buchanan says the key impact is on life quality as people form families. ( ABC News: Rhiana Whitson )

Australia was a world leader in formulating the "eight-hour day", that set safe working hours: dividing the 24-hour day into eight hours of toil, eight hours of recreation and eight hours of rest. But that is long gone.

Workers perform an average of six hours of unpaid work a week, the Australia Institute found last year.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data back that up — more than one-in-five of the nation's almost 13 million workers put in more than 45 hours a week, while more than 300,000 are habitually working more than 70 hours a week.

Professor Buchanan said the key impact is on quality of life, and it is particularly acute among people working the longest hours — those aged between 25 and 45.

"This is when people are going through family formation, so it's meaning there's acute pressure on people's lives — when all the other aspects of life are intensifying," he said.

"So people are raising small children, they're often looking after elderly parents and at work they're trying to work punishing hours.

"It really does sap a lot of the vitality out of life."

Are hard workers keeping your wage down?

It is not just that people are working long hours at one job — an increasing number of people are working with multiple employers, or 'self-employed', in the 'gig' or contracting economies.

Almost one-in-five workers are now holding down three or more jobs concurrently, but they are on average earning less than workers with just one role.

Recent ABS analysis of 100 million tax records, over six years to 2017, found a quarter of people under 30 were holding multiple jobs.

The number of hours worked by employees was up 2 per cent in the past year, above the 20-year average, according to ABS data.

The wage price index experienced record lows before rising barely above rising living costs. ( ABC News: Alistair Kroie )

To the boss of the peak body for Australia's unions, it comes down to employees holding diminished power over the conditions of their employment.

"If you feel as though you can't say no to your employer and you have to work these extra hours, often unpaid, so it's really a form of wage theft really, or job theft," said Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary Sally McManus.

"You're going to work those hours in order to keep your job, and that's a problem."

Ms McManus says people habitually working unpaid overtime are inadvertently taking jobs from others who desperately want them.

"It's not their fault as individuals," she added.

"They're in a position where often they're put under pressure to work those extra hours for free.

"And so employers, if they think they can get people who work all those hours for free, why would they employ someone they have to pay?"

Professor Buchanan said businesses now have "immense power" over determining what is acceptable for their workers, with award systems that set wages and hours being worn down over recent decades.

"Hours of work started to get out of control in the 1980s and it's been locked in now in enterprise agreements and weakly-regulated parts of the labour market," he argued.

"You now have many workers not having enough hours, and those who do have work — full-timers — working amongst the longest hours in the world."

Conrad Liveris believes it will take a crisis within organisations to force change.

"Until these things even out wages are going to stay pretty stable, because those who are getting pay increases — earning a significant amount of money — they're actually a pretty narrow group, they're pretty small," he said.

"It's not translating to the economy overall."

In the meantime Mitch still wants to be able to work more, to help his mum with household bills and afford to get his driver licence.

"It's sad," he said. "I thought I would actually have enough hours, have an actual full-time job, be able to actually go out with friends and everything — but I can't really do that."