In Australia, the subject of underemployment gets a lot of attention. That’s unsurprising as their underemployment rate is the highest it’s ever been, at 8.5%. Many of the reasons for their high underemployment are eerily similar to the reasons for the underemployment problem in the U.S. i.e. outsourcing, loss of good paying, high skilled jobs to automation, wage stagnation, high student loan debt, etc.
Starting this month, Harrison Stamoudis will be writing exclusively for us about underemployment in Australia. It will be a far reaching column and will spin off into many topics that in some way pertain to underemployment.
Harrison’s pieces for us have received heavy attention, and we’re proud to feature him on our site. His combination of humor, sincere outrage, and great writing will make his column essential reading for anyone looking for a well informed opinion.
For this week’s video, we chose a clip that gives a fairly recent look at Australia’s labor market. The thing about labor numbers is they can look great, but not tell the real story. This clip highlights that, and focuses on some key labor issues. It’s a brief but telling snapshot of Australia’s job situation right now. Enjoy.