There were 1.2 million people who didn't have a paid job but wanted a job in 2024-25, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics said: 'Almost half of the 1.2 million people who wanted a paid job in 2024-25 were unemployed. The rest were either not actively looking for work or not immediately available for work'.
'Almost 1.1 million of this group were available to start work immediately or within the next four weeks, with a further 130,000 not available to start work within the next four weeks.'
| Wanted a paid job | Available within 4 weeks | Unemployed looking for work (a) | Not available within 4 weeks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | 1,824,500 | 787,600 | 638,700 | 398,200 |
| 2016-17 | 1,640,200 | 643,000 | 613,600 | 383,600 |
| 2018-19 | 1,544,200 | 634,700 | 568,300 | 341,200 |
| 2020-21 | 1,637,400 | 613,600 | 703,100 | 320,700 |
| 2022-23 | 1,281,900 | 567,100 | 396,300 | 318,600 |
| 2023-24 | 1,288,500 | 660,900 | 443,800 | 183,800 |
| 2024-25 | 1,215,800 | 605,100 | 481,000 | 129,700 |
- Excludes unemployed 'future starters' who were waiting to start a new job within four weeks and could have started if the job had been available.
Women made up the majority of those people not available for work within four weeks, at 65 per cent. Almost half (43 per cent) of women who wanted to work but were not available within four weeks reported caring for children as the main reason they were unavailable.
| Persons (%) | Males (%) | Females (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caring for children | 32.0 | 12.5 | 42.6 |
| Long-term health condition or disability | 23.4 | 39.4 | 14.8 |
| Caring for ill, disabled or elderly | 7.2 | 0.0 | 11.1 |
| Short-term illness or injury | 2.9 | 8.2 | 0.0 |
| Studying or returning to studies | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.9 |
People who want more work
There were also 800,000 people who worked part time and wanted more hours, with 89 per cent of these people available to start working more hours within four weeks.
Parents
In 2024-25, there were 5.1 million parents with children aged under 15 years. Almost 700,000 parents did not have a job, with most (81 per cent) of these people being mothers (560,000).
For those parents who did not have a job, 16 per cent were looking for work while 63 per cent didn't want a job.
More insights on the labour force status of parents and family members, including people in couple families, one-parent families, and other types of families can be found in the recently released Labour Force Status of Families.
Long-term health conditions
There were around 700,000 people who had a long-term health condition and wanted a job. While long-term health conditions were a common reason people were unavailable to start work, not all people with a long-term health condition were unable to work.
Long-term health condition or disability was the main reason for 39 per cent of men who were not available for work.
Incentives to work
Questions around incentives to work help identify the factors that may encourage people into paid work, which continue to differ between women and men.
The most important factors for women were being able to work part-time hours, and finding a job that matches skills and experience, with 33 per cent of women stating these factors as very important.
Almost a third of men (32 per cent) reported that the most important factor to get them to work was finding a job that matches skills and experience, followed by support for training or study to improve skills (24 per cent) and ability to work part-time hours (23 per cent).
