Bumpf

There has been a lot of bumpf written and spoken about our unemployment and underemployment and how there are "serious skills shortages".

Seemingly rational people writing for our media never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Because the ABS figures around unemployment and underemployment clarify the situation a bit. In round numbers we have about 5% unemployed and 7% underemployed. This means that around 12% of our workforce is not working as much as they would like. 12% clearly puts the lie to the concept that we have "full employment".

The question we should be asking is why 12% of our workforce is either out of work or want more work?

* Could it be because they are lazy, immobile, unskilled and unqualified?

* Or is it because there are not enough real jobs?

Now if you are in the first camp then you would probably want to use a big stick to beat those people up and get them back into the workforce. If you were a little compassionate then you might even want to help them become more mobile and to educate them.

But what would your solution be if the second case were true? How would you generate more jobs and more work for those with jobs? Wave the magic wand, mumble incoherently or just write the manufactured BS dictated by your right wing employer?

The ABS numbers identify around 595k unemployed people. ABS underemployment numbers show that there are around 73k people who would like more full time work and around 733k people who would like more part time work. These are big numbers Virginia.

In terms of the largest group (part time underemployed workers) 22% of men and 16% of women reported that they would move interstate if offered a suitable job. It's likely that there are similar percentages for the other groups.

So much for their lack of mobility.

And of part time workers who would prefer more hours, 128k had a bachelor degree or higher, 71k had an advanced diploma, 133k had a certificate - while just 152k had year 10 or below.

So much for their lack of skills.

Isn't it time we had a real debate about these things - using *truth* and *facts* instead of the made up nonsense that gets pushed by our media - and exploited by our politicians?