Highlights
- ABS data shows 594, 300 more people have become unemployed between March and April
- Australia's unemployment rate has risen to 6.2 per cent in the same period
- Workers who have jobs are getting reduced hours
Less than a year ago, Salma Butt* was delighted when she landed a job that she was happy and satisfied with. This job came by after more than a decade of studying and working hard, also doing odd jobs, to support herself in Australia.
As she shared her joy with friends and family, little did Ms Butt realise that a few months down the line, she’d lose that job not to a human being, but to a virus.
When the coronavirus began to weaken the Australian economy, this Queenslander was made redundant from the accounting job she had in a reputed company last month.
Being made redundant means Ms Butt is not eligible for JobKeeper.
JobKeeper is a wage subsidy programme of the federal government under which employees who have been stood down by their employers are given $1500 per fortnight to support themselves.
It had taken this migrant from Gujranwala in Pakistan’s Punjab province close to 15 years to finally call herself a full-time accounting professional in Australia. But now, she is making ends meet with her eight-week redundancy package.
In contrast to the proud phone calls she made a few months ago to friends and family to announce her new job, she is now hiding this turn of events from them.
“I don’t want my family and friends in Pakistan to start worrying about me,” she says.
Thousands of such real people have been reduced to the ‘data’ that forms the basis of an employment report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.
People were seen queuing up outside Centrelink offices across Australia when JobKeeper and JobSeeker were announced. Source: AAP
ABS data revealed that seasonally adjusted employment fell by 594,300 people between March and April. This period coincides with the impact the coronavirus has had on jobs.
The report also highlights that the number of unemployed people rose to 823,300 and the unemployment rate to 6.2 per cent within the same period.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hours worked has also been extensive. Workers got work for a lesser number of hours, reveals the ABS report. The total hours worked fell by around 9.2 per cent between March and April.
Around 2.7 million people (about 1 in 5 people employed in March) either left employment or had their hours reduced between March and April. This is much greater than it was in previous years, the report analyses.
As a result, the number of underemployed people also rose sharply (up by 603,300 people, to a total of 1.8 million), and the underemployment rate rose to a record high 13.7 per cent (up by 4.9 percentage points).
The underutilisation rate, which combines the unemployment and underemployment rates, also rose to a record high of 19.9 per cent, adds the ABS report.
Ms Butt is now keeping herself busy by applying for jobs.
“I have applied for five jobs in a month but haven’t got any response yet. The job market is very weak at the moment,” she says.
Eight weeks from the date of her being made redundant, Ms Butt will be able to apply for JobSeeker, which is another federal government programme to financially support those applying for jobs.
“It won’t be till the last week of June before I get any allowance. Till then, I’ll have to dip into my savings and the redundancy package,” says Ms Butt with concern.
*Name has been changed to protect the identity.
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