1384.6 - Statistics - Tasmania, 2006  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 01/12/2006   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All  
Contents >> Labour >> Persons employed >> Underemployed workers


Underemployment can be:

  • time-related. This reflects insufficient hours of work being available in relation to an alternative employment situation that a person is willing and available to engage in; or
  • due to inadequate employment situations. These refer to situations where people want to increase their hours of work for a set of reasons such as insufficient use of skills or inadequate income.
The number of underemployed workers is an important indicator of labour market performance. It highlights any unsatisfied aspirations for adequate work and greater earnings.

In September 2005, there were 221,700 employed persons aged 15 years and over in the labour force. Of these, 18,000 (8.1%) were underemployed, comprising 16,600 part-time workers who wanted more hours and 1,400 full-time workers who for economic reasons worked less than 35 hours in the reference week.

UNDEREMPLOYED STATUS OF EMPLOYED PERSONS, Tasmania - September 2005
Males
Females
Persons
'000
'000
'000

Full-time workers
99.6
53.1
152.7
Worked 35 hours or more in the reference week
77.4
39.5
116.8
Worked less than 35 hours in the reference week
22.3
13.6
35.9
For non-economic reasons(a)
21.1
13.3
34.4
For economic reasons(b)
1.2
**0.2
1.4
Part-time workers
20.3
48.7
69.0
Not wanting more hours
13.7
38.7
52.4
Want more hours
6.6
10.0
16.6
Usually work part-time and want to work more part-time hours
1.2
4.8
6.0
Usually work part-time and want to work full-time hours
5.4
5.2
10.6
Employed persons(c)
119.9
101.8
221.7


**estimate has a relative standard error greater than 50% and is considered too unreliable for general use
(a) Non-economic reasons include illness or injury, leave, holiday or flextime, and personal reasons.
(b) Economic reasons include being stood down, or insufficient work being available.
(c) Estimates have been rounded and minor discrepancies may occur between sums of component items and totals.

Source: ABS data available on request, Underemployed Workers Survey.

These statistics relate to a Tasmania Together benchmark.



Previous PageNext Page