In August 2012 an estimated 1.205 million Australians (9.8%, up 0.1% in a month) were unemployed, and the Australian workforce* was 12,279,000, (up 160,000 in a month) — comprising 7,263,000 full-time workers (down 169,000); 3,811,000 part-time workers (up 295,000) and 1,205,000 looking for work (up 34,000) according to Roy Morgan.
A further 926,000 Australians are under-employed – working part-time and looking for more work. This is 16,000 less than a month ago, and represents 7.5% of the workforce* — down 0.3% this month.
In total 2.131 million Australians were unemployed or under-employed in July. This is 18,000 more than last month, 17.3% (down 0.2%) of the workforce. However, this is up a significant 401,000 over the past 12 months since August 2011.
The latest Roy Morgan unemployment estimate of 9.8% is now 4.6% above the 5.2% currently quoted by the ABS for July 2012.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
