More Australians in full-time positions than ever before: ABS

Full-time employment has increased for the ninth straight month in June 2017

BY John Hilton 20 Jul 2017

Full-time employment has increased for the ninth straight month in June 2017, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

This means that more Australians are in full-time positions than ever before.

While full-time employment increased by 62,000, this was partly offset by a 48,000 drop in part-time workers.

"Full-time employment has increased by around 187,000 persons since September 2016, with particular strength over the past five months, averaging around 30,000 persons per month," said Chief Economist for the ABS Bruce Hockman.

"Full-time employment now accounts for about 68% of employment, however this is down from around 72% a decade ago."

In the past two months, full-time jobs have increased by 115,400 positions - the strongest gain in the full-time sector in 29 years.

However, the figures out of the ABS were not so positive for Australia’s youth.

At 13.1% in June, Australia’s youth unemployment rate is 0.8% higher than the OECD average.

This puts Australia at 18th out of the 35 OECD countries, behind the likes of the Unites States, Germany, Norway and even the Czech Republic.

What is the main cause of the problem?

It’s the transition from education to the workforce, according to Steve Shepherd, CEO at TwoPointZero.

“We’re degree-obsessed but not in a good way. Instead of helping young Australians understand their passions, interests and strengths to point them on the right path, we just tell them to go to university and get a degree in whatever subject they take a fancy to, with little or no thought about whether that leads them down the right vocational path,” he said.

“To address Australia’s mounting youth employment issues, we need to fix our education system and the guidance we provide young people from high school through to university.

“We need to educate students of the skills gaps in the workforce and help encourage those with the right passions into those roles. And, we need to better align education with the skills required in the workforce today.”

Today’s figures also show:

A record number of 12,166,900 Australians are employed;
A record number of 8,356,000 Australians are in full-time employment;
The total number of people working in Australia has now increased for the past nine months;
Full-time employment has now risen by 166,700 in the six months to June 2017, the largest increase in full-time employment in the first half of a calendar year on record;
Employment has now increased by 240,200, or 2 per cent, over the year, above the decade average rate, of 1.6 per cent.