Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation, Australia

Latest release

People not working, or working less than they prefer, including whether they want to work, are looking for work, and factors for them to start working

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Reference period
March 2026
Release date and time
24/06/2026 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

In March quarter 2026:

  • 1.1 million people (aged 18-75) without a (paid) job wanted a job, with 1 million available to start within 4 weeks.
  • The most common reason men who wanted a job were unavailable to start within 4 weeks was 'Long-term health condition or disability'.
  • The most common reason women who wanted a job were unavailable to start within 4 weeks was 'Caring for children'.
  • 2.0 million people without a job did not want a job, with a further 2.1 million either retired or permanently unable to work.

Upcoming changes to the Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation survey

As advised in the September quarter Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation release, there will be changes to the way the labour supplementary surveys are conducted as part of the ABS plan to modernise the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Further information can be found in Modernising the Labour Force Survey. 

As a result of these changes, the 2025-26 Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation survey will be the last conducted in its current form.

Data from the new supplementary survey, including content previously collected in Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation, will be compiled and published on a calendar year basis. More information on the content and timing of the suite of outputs that will be published from the new supplementary survey will be provided over the course of 2026, however we expect a similar range of data as published across the current suite of releases would continue to be available.

People who did not have a job

In March quarter 2026, there were 19 million people aged 18-75 years. Of these:

  • 14.1 million were employed or had a job to start or return to (73%)
  • 2.1 million were retired or permanently unable to work (11%)
  • 3.2 million did not have a (paid) job (16%) - 1.1 million people wanted a (paid) job (36%) and 2.0 million people did not want a (paid) job (64%).

Of the 1.1 million people who wanted a job, 999,700 (88%) were available within 4 weeks and 139,800 (12%) were not available within 4 weeks.

Note: The survey was conducted every second year prior to 2022-23.

In March quarter 2026, of those aged 18-75 years who did not have a job, were not retired and not permanently unable to work:

  • 1.9 million had a long-term health condition, and of these, 608,700 (32%) wanted a paid job.
  • 1.2 million had a disability, with 348,400 of these people wanting a paid job (30%).

Note that people can report having both a long-term health condition and a disability.

People who did not want to work

Of the 2.0 million people aged 18-75 years who did not want a job in March 2026, the main reason for not wanting a job was 'No need, satisfied with current arrangements' (42%). For both men and women aged 18-24 years, 'Studying or returning to studies' was the main reason for not wanting a job (64% for men and 45% for women).

For women aged 25-39 years, 'Caring for children' (45.7%) was the main reason for not wanting a job and for men was 'No need, satisfied with current arrangements' (31%).

For men aged 40-54 years, 'Long-term health condition or disability' was the main reason for not wanting a job (42%) and for women it was 'No need, satisfied with current arrangements' (26%).

People who were not available to work

The main reasons women who wanted a job were not available within 4 weeks were:

  • Caring for children (48%)
  • Long-term health condition or disability (24%).

The main reasons men who wanted a job were not available within 4 weeks were:

  • Long-term health condition or disability (35%).
  • Caring for children (29%).

Incentives to work

Of the 3.2 million people who did not have a job in March quarter 2026, the most important factor associated with either returning to or commencing work was 'Finding a job that matches skills and experience', which was rated as 'Very important' by 33% of people.

For people with a long-term health condition, the most important factors were 'Finding a job that matches skills and experience' (28%) and 'Ability to work part-time hours' (27%). For people with a disability, it was 'Maintaining the most of any government benefits or allowances' (31%) and 'Finding a job that matches skills and experience' (28%).

Data downloads

Quarterly time series

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Data files

Methodology

Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation, Australia methodology, March 2026