Full-time employment: Tasmanian members want more working hours, survey finds

jobs in Australia — A job advert for a local fast food outlet hangs on a wall in a shopping center located in central Sydney, Australia, in this March. Reuters/David Gray

A new poll, commissioned by Unions Tasmania and the Australia Institute Tasmania, has identified underemployment as a critical issue. The majority or 60 percent of those who participated in the survey said they wanted more working hours, but Australia Institute Tasmania said full-time employment had failed to keep pace.

Leanne Minshull, Australia Institute Tasmania director, recognised that economy in the region has become stronger. However, full-time employment, she said, doesn’t see a similar growth.

Minshull explained that total employment rose by 3.8 percent in the last year, but most over 8,000 out of 9,000 new jobs were part-time. She added that growth in full-time employment has been slower in Tasmania compared to the national average, and warned that Tasmania risks creating a two-speed economy if more full-time and secure employment in this period of growth could not be produced.

'Wake-up call'

Unions Tasmania secretary Jessica Munday said the result of the poll must be a "wake-up call" for the state government. She said it is a confirmation of what members of the Tasmanian community have been telling their unions for some time. They want more hours of work but could not get them.

Munday said the government has “ignored” the issue of underemployment by focusing solely on unemployment figures. She argued that there could not be a genuine conversation about jobs without discussing underemployment too.

Tasmania's employment rate

Treasurer Peter Gutwein has previously said employment rate in Tasmania had grown at the fastest rate in the country. "Six months from an election, comments from the Labor-friendly unions and Green-leaning Australia Institute need to be taken with more than a grain of salt," he said.

The Treasurer also recognised that there is a lot more to be done. He said new targets have been set for their next terms and were releasing policies to accomplish them.

Challenges for workers

Kym Goodes, Tasmanian Council of Social Service (TasCOSS) chief executive, said those without full-time employment deal with several challenges. These include borrowing money to purchase a house or a car. "Without a secure income you have to come off and on Centrelink payments, and often that causes challenges all on its own in terms of accessing rental assistance, as well as a payment that gives you a regular income to be able to afford to do the basics in life, including feeding your family,” the ABC quotes Goodes as saying.