Two million Australians seeking work: Roy Morgan

More than two million Australians, or 17.2% of the workforce, are unemployed or under-employed, according to a new report.

The Roy Morgan research statistics show 959,000 Australians (7.9% of the workforce) are ‘under-employed’ – including part-timers and consultants looking for more work.

The unemployment rate is 9.3%, with an estimated 1,120,000 Australians looking for work.

The unemployment figure is well above the 5.2% quoted by the ABS for February.

According to the Roy Morgan data, the Australian workforce in February was 12.09 million people, comprising 7.89 million full-time workers and 4.2 million part-time workers.

“Economists and politicians are wrong to talk about a ‘tight’ labour market in Australia driving wage pressures,” the report states.