Grogonomics
Australian economy

The overall good employment figures pretend that everyone can compete for all jobs but that’s not the case

The latest jobs figures have been quite good news – generally full-time employment growth, and a falling unemployment rate. And yet the experience for everyone is decidedly not reflected in the national unemployment rate figures. The Anglicare Job Availability Snapshot released on Thursday reveals the great difficulty those with low skills have finding work compared with others. The report recommends an increase in Newstart, a more tailored approach to employment services and an inquiry into the worth of a job guarantee or a universal basic income system.
There is absolutely no doubt that the best path to work is education. Consider that in August the unemployment rate for all 20-64 year olds was 4.7%, but for those holding a bachelor degree or higher it was just 3.1%:
This is important because while the latest figures suggest that in August there were just three unemployed per job vacancy – the lowest number since the GFC – such a number pretends that everyone is able to compete for all jobs:
But geography is just one aspect to deal with. The other, more real concern given most people don’t even bother to look for work interstate except in extenuating circumstances, is the skills required for each vacancy.
And here the Anglicare Job Availability Snapshot focuses its attention on the number of jobs at various skills levels and the number of those low skilled workers around the country fighting for those jobs.
Using data from the Department of Jobs and Small Business, the snapshot finds that the number of vacancies for skill level 5 jobs – such as cleaners and laundry workers, labourers and salespeople  – accounts for just 14% of all vacancies, compared to 39% for skill level 1 – which are those types of jobs that require a bachelor degree or higher qualification, or around five years experience:
Anglicare estimates that across the nation there are 4.3 unemployed with low skills fighting for a skill level 5 job. But this varies greatly across the states. In Tasmania there are nearly 12 low skilled unemployed per low-skilled job vacancy; 8.5 in South Australia and just under six in WA:
This puts in to sharp relief the government’s latest proposal to penalise unemployed for turning down a short-term job working on farms or fruit orchards by suspending Newstart payment for four weeks.
The reality is in many regional areas the number of low-skilled work available is small and greatly outweighed by the number of low-skilled people seeking work. And as the Anglicare report notes, the low-skilled are not just competing with other low-skilled job seekers but with those who possess higher skills than they do.
This highlights the need not only to invest in skills-training for such job seekers, but also the absurdity of penalising them. Rather, as the Anglicare report notes, Newstart is already so meagre that low skilled unemployed are often “trapped in poverty while they search for a job” and that current rates of Newstart “are so low that they are a barrier to jobseeking in and of themselves”.
One way to look at how the changing economy has made finding a job much tougher for low-skilled workers is to compare the proportion of job vacancies to employment for various occupation groups.
In 2006, the vacancies for managers and professionals accounted for around 33% of all job vacancies – and this matched the proportion of people employed in such occupations.
Now however, while managers and professionals account for 36% of all employed people, they make up 42% of all job vacancies:
The Snapshot notes that the difficulties of low-skilled unemployed finding work “point to experiences of significant disadvantage and barriers to employment”. It reflects that while our economy has continued to grow it has mostly “resulted in more complex work at higher skill levels,” and this has led to a sizeable chunk of people being left behind.
The Snapshot notes that a discussion paper by the Department of Jobs and Small Business found that “almost half of the people in jobactive have remained in the service for two years or more” and the average length of time on the caseload for the low-skilled jobseekers is five years.
Anglicare argues that employment services “must be decoupled from penalties such as the loss of government income support”. The current regime, it argues, creates more hardship and suffering for people who are already highly vulnerable and trying to survive on government income payments well below the poverty line.
It also argues for “a re-design of employment services around a person-centred model”. Under this approach, Anglicare suggests “providers would work in partnership with people seeking work, acknowledging their individual strengths, aspirations and situations”.
Anglicare also argues “we need to re-think our understanding of work based on what we find meaningful, rather than a very narrow definition of the purpose of work as a means of wealth creation” – citing the 2.7 million unpaid carers in Australia. As a result it recommends the government investigate proposals for a Universal Basic Income and a Jobs Guarantee, “to explore whether they could be trialed in Australia”.
The Anglicare snapshot is a timely reminder that in the face of overall good news on the jobs front, there are problems which are hidden by the national figures. And it highlights that those who have the toughest competition for work are also those who are most likely to be caught in the poverty trap of Newstart – something which would only be made worse by punishing them.

• Greg Jericho is a Guardian Australia columnist