The number of Australians being forced to pick up more than one job to make ends meet increased 4.3 per cent in the June quarter and 8 per cent for the year to June, reaching a new record of 900,000, with workers in healthcare and social assistance hit the hardest, according to data released this morning by the ABS.
The low headline unemployment rate is masking the reality of employment for millions of working people who are struggling to find secure jobs with enough hours to support themselves and their families.
A workforce with flatlining wage growth and a record number of people taking second jobs alongside record profits and corporate bonuses is the legacy of a decade of neglect under the previous Government which has left us with an out-dated industrial relations system in desperate need of modernisation.
Quotes attributable to ACTU Secretary Sally McManus:
“Record numbers of working people are being forced to string together multiple jobs in order to pay the bills. This is at a time when profits for our biggest businesses keep climbing and labour productivity is at the highest level in a decade. This just shows the need to update our workplace laws so wages move again.
“This problem has been exacerbated by employers slicing and dicing what were once full time, permanent jobs into multiple, insecure, outsourced, low-paid jobs. Australia can do so much better than this.
“The record number of people working more than one job at a time of low unemployment exposes how serious our problems are, headline figures mask the reality of working life in Australia in 2022.”
