While it’s a bummer to have no paying work— re: being unemployed— the notion of having some paying work, yet not enough, shouldn’t just be written off as a First World problem.
In fact, the data shows that the rate of underemployment in America (14 percent) is dramatically higher than that of unemployment (4.4 percent).
And it turns out that the U.S. may not be even the biggest offender: some of the world’s highest rates of underemployment are in Australia, or the land Down Under.
The job market conditions in Australia are so bad that a tick over one-third of all youth are either unemployed or underemployed— a rather shocking figure.
Chronic underemployment affects an individual in immeasurable ways: victims often find themselves rattled psychologically, in pursuit of multiple part-time jobs, and mired in poverty.
Studies have shown that underemployment is associated with an increased risk of depression, heightened stress, and lower levels of self-esteem.
Unfortunately, many who never pick up steady employment in the first place remain unskilled and deemed “unready” for the job market, creating a virtuous circle of inadequate employment.
While it’s easy to ignore the plight of the underemployed— or even blame them for their circumstances— the truth is the consequences they bear affect us all.
“For their part, the Australian government has pointed to the rapidly-shifting job market as being the cause for the country’s issues with underemployment.”
Consumer demand, for example, decreases whenever households have less money, as is the case under conditions of high unemployment and underemployment. This, ultimately, results in diminished business growth, which negatively impacts GDP.
Underemployed individuals are also eligible to take government assistance in many cases— as they should. If wealthy individuals needed two reasons to stem this epidemic, there they are.
While it’s easy to continue reviewing the situation on a macro level, it’s probably easier to understand the situation by looking at two individual countries— the U.S. and Australia— on the smaller, micro level.
Let’s start with the wealthiest country in the world.
Underemployment in the United States
You’d think that for a nation with a GDP of $18 trillion— over $55,000 per capita— the wealth would be spread around. Jobs, in other words, wouldn’t be that ever-elusive thing that many youth find themselves in dire need of.
It doesn’t help that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the principal source of employment statistics in the U.S., doesn’t even measure underemployment.
Underemployment, perhaps surprisingly, actually affects the quality of life of those who have advanced degrees more than those who have less formal education.
A 2011 study by Gallup found that underemployed— as opposed to fully employed— college grad respondents reported a 17 percent drop in whether they deemed themselves to be “thriving” in life.
For those with a high school diploma or less, the drop in life satisfaction for underemployed individuals was a more modest 10 percent.
A related cousin to underemployment— sometimes even included under its banner— is the phenomenon of being overqualified for a position.
It’s hard enough to get a job that you’re clearly too good for, but why would anybody want to be in that situation in the first place?
A recent estimate put the number of employees with a college degree who are overqualified for their job at one-in-four.
So, clearly, being an underemployed college graduate is no bueno.
The bigger takeaway, however, should be the fact that poverty rates have decreased recently amongst nearly all groups— except for underemployed individuals.
From 2012 to 2013, the poverty rate for underemployed Americans increased from 16.6 to 17.5 percent. Compare this to a poverty rate of 2.9 percent for full-time workers.
While there are measures that could help stop the bleeding, none promise a quick fix.
It will probably take tremendous effort not only on the part of the individual, but the government and private sector to find solutions to the underemployment crisis.
Politicians should start by looking at the struggles of millennials, who are the biggest group impacted by underemployment.
Underemployment in Australia
While Aussies are proud of their culture, one thing they’d likely like to set to sea is their high underemployment rate.
Thankfully, the statistics are easy to find: the Australian Bureau of Statistics— unlike its American counterpart— kindly provides us with nationwide underemployment figures online.
While the statistics reveal that since about two years ago unemployment has dropped one-half-a-percent to 5.7 percent, the nation’s underemployment rate has stayed persistent at 8.5 percent, with no signs of decreasing.
The anecdotes of underemployed individuals present a narrative that is even more troubling— it induces both surprise and outright disgust.
Take Kate Zizys, for example, who was profiled in the Sydney Morning Herald, one of Australia’s most esteemed news publications.
Zizys, a 46-year-old with a college degree, is a shining example of the virtuous circle alluded to earlier: she has been underemployed almost her entire working life, and earns less than $20,000 a year on average.
“I have had long periods of underemployment that border on unemployment,” she told the Herald. “There’s not enough money or security in casual jobs.”
This is despite having worked in a variety of positions in academia, including at a university in the state of Victoria.
To make matters worse, Zizys, at one point, dealt with breast cancer amid this career crisis, a situation that may have been financially unmanageable were it not for Australia’s universal healthcare.
(In case you’re wondering, breast cancer treatment in the United States varies widely, but you can sure bet it’d cost you an arm and a leg, regardless of your insurance status).
Perhaps the most stunning figure is the number “200”— that represents the amount of jobs that Zizys applied to in a recent 11-month period.
If nothing else, Zizys’ story proves that no one, regardless of age, is completely spared from the joblessness blues.
Later in their piece, the Herald interviews John Buchanan, an esteemed professor at the University of Sydney, who says that the number of underemployed individuals in Australia has increased more than sixfold since the 1970s.
Buchanan believes that Australia’s proclivity toward part-time work— they have some of the highest rates of part-time workers of any of the 35 OECD nations— is a double-edged sword.
“People say that is a sign of how flexible our labour market is and people are getting more work life balance,” he told the Herald. “But Australia also has one of the highest levels of underemployment— people who are part-time unemployed.”
For their part, the Australian government has pointed to the rapidly-shifting job market as being the cause for the country’s issues with underemployment.
Namely, there has been “job creation in industries which involve higher levels of part-time and casual work,” said Australia’s Minister for Employment.
Regardless of the culprit, experts unanimously agree that Australia has a big problem on its hands, and action must be taken by both the public and private sectors.
Jimmy Barnes, a rock musician who has lived in Adelaide since age five, perhaps put it best when speaking to The Guardian.
“Too often we keep blaming the victims of these huge economic changes rather than addressing the challenge of helping people into working life,” he commented.
What Can Be Done?
Fortunately, underemployment is a problem that doesn’t have to be so prominent in scope.
In fact, oftentimes, individuals are underemployed, if not unemployed, because they’re looking in the wrong places.
Earlier this year, Fast Company highlighted the efforts of the McKinsey Social Initiative, a non-profit, to amelioriate the epidemic in America.
It is their mission to find and sufficiently train young unemployed and underemployed individuals, so they can later enter lucrative fields such as healthcare, IT, or any number of skilled trades.
When Mark Zuckerberg says that Facebook hasn’t been able to hire the requisite number of computer engineers because “there aren’t enough people who are trained and have these skills today,” perhaps we have to take a second glance at the situation.
Maybe part of the responsibility is on us.
Nonetheless, as with any dire problem, the fix won’t come overnight, and we all have to get involved.
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Daniel Steingold is a writer from Los Angeles, CA who’s an advocate for alliterative artistry. Admittedly ambivalent towards social media, he halfheartedly hopes hospitable humans heap plentiful praise upon his prose periodically posted to Facebook.
His two known writing projects, one used and one abused, are The Article Review (thearticlereview.com) and A Wiki a Week (awikiaweek.com), respectively. He enjoys learning about everything under the moon, because, well… the sun BURNS his ghostly white skin