penny wong - the real unemployment numbers

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The real 'truth' about Australian unemployment revealed by Senator Penny Wong in 2007!

Finding No. 4820 - The real truth about Australian Unemployment as revealed by Senator Penny Wong in 2007.: September 06, 2012

Senator Penny Wong, in a reply to a letter from Marcus L’Estrange concerning Australia’s true rate of unemployment had this to say: (March 8, 2007) — while in Opposition to the then Howard Government.

“Whilst Labor is always pleased to see the official rate of unemployment drop, and to see more people gaining work, we recognise a great many people do not show up in those figures. For example, one in five part-time workers — some 600,000 people — want more work than they can get.

“There are also many people who are not in the labour force at all. Around 1.2 million Australians would like to work but for various reasons are not looking. Many of them are discouraged or do not have the skills employers are looking for.

“When you add these two factors to the nearly 500,000 officially unemployed, we know that there are around 2.3 million Australians who are officially unemployed or want more work than they can get. This is a point that I, and a number of Labor members have made on a number of occasions.”

Senator Wong has not repeated these statements since the ALP won Government at the 2007 Federal Election.

Full Letter from Penny Wong: /resources/pdf/papers/20120902.pdf

Gary Morgan says:

“Senator Penny Wong has revealed (albeit when in Opposition in March 2007) that the Federal Government is well aware of the true state of the employment market in Australia — but is content to ‘cover-up’ the real situation in the Australian labour market to boost their standing in the electorate.

“Today’s ABS August unemployment figures — showing a drop in Australia’s unemployment rate to 5.1% (down 0.1% since July) defy belief and don’t equate with the general unease felt in many parts of the community. Senator Wong explained succinctly the ‘disconnect’ between the ABS unemployment figures and the true state of the Australian labour market in a letter to constituent Marcus L’Estrange in March 2007 — which Mr. L’Estrange has passed on to Roy Morgan.

“Our own Roy Morgan unemployment estimate shows real unemployment in Australia of 9.8% in August (1,205,000) and an additional 7.5% of Australians under-employed (926,000). This is a total of 2.13 million Australians (17.3%) looking for work or looking for more work. This figure is also remarkably similar to the figure quoted by Senator Wong in March 2007 (2.3 million Australians).

“It is amazing that since the Rudd-Gillard Government was elected in late 2007, we have not heard Senator Wong repeat her convictions on the true state of unemployment in Australia. This also goes for the leaders in the Government including Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan. All quote the ABS unemployment figures despite the fact they are all well aware how the ABS measurement understates the true level of unemployment in Australia..