6220.0 - Persons Not in the Labour Force, Australia, September 1996  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 28/02/1997   
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  • Persons not in the labour force, September 1996 - ABS (Media Release)

MEDIA RELEASE

February 28, 1997
Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)
21/97
Persons not in the labour force, September 1996 - ABS

There were 3.7 million persons aged 15 to 69 years who were not in the labour force in September 1996. This amounts to almost 1 in 3 persons in the civilian population in this age group.

Released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics are results of the survey Persons Not in the Labour Force, conducted in September 1996. This survey provides information about the activities and employment aspirations of persons who are neither employed nor unemployed.

Of the 3.7 million persons not in the labour force, nearly 1,130,000 wanted to work but were not actively looking for work.

Of these, 118,900 were discouraged jobseekers, a slight increase (0.2 per cent) since September 1995. These were people who wanted to work and were available to start work, but were not doing anything to find a job mainly because they believed employers considered them too young or too old, or there were no jobs available in their area or their line of work.

Of all discouraged jobseekers, 37 per cent were aged 15 to 44 years, 33 per cent were aged 45 to 59 years and 30 per cent were aged 60 to 69 years.

There were another 621,700 persons who wanted to work and were available to start work, but who stated they were not doing anything to find a job for personal reasons (such as attending an educational institution, ill health/physical disability) or for family reasons (such as childcare).

Copies of the publication Persons Not in the Labour Force, Australia, September 1996 (cat. no. 6220.0) available from ABS Bookshops.