At long last there are some sort of statistics on underemployment. What is underemployment?
Underemployment is when people have some sort of work but
- have the capacity to work longer hours
- this work does not fully utilize their education and skills within either their job or within the broader economy
More formal definitions from the OECD are available here.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics does not collect statistics on underemployment. Prior to this study, statistics on underemployment in Australia have been the result of educated guesses. In fact, such statistics that are collected are untrue. They - like so many economic theories and indicators - are based on a lie. The Big Lie is the basic definition of employment. The official definition of employment is:
This definition is extensive in its application. It is used internationally by the OECD and is based on their definition.
Consequences of underemployment can be:
- inability to build skills
- lack of access to on-going training
- lack of access to further education
- lack of promotion
- continuing dependence on social security benefits
- inability to build a sustaining retirement income
- inability to attract finance for housing or motor vehicles
- inability to repay HECS debts
- inability to contribute to community capital
I can remember a time when underemployment was discussed in this country but discussed as applying to India with its huge population and underlying economic difficulties. Underemployment in their own country was not something of which Australians were conscious - unless some forward thinking people considered the low participation of females in the workforce.
Let's stop the lies and lobby our politicians and bureaucrats to collect official statistics on underemployment, now.
