Doorstop interview: ABS Labour force figures; low wage growth

BRENDAN O’CONNOR, SHADOW MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: Thanks for coming. I just wanted to comment on the ABS data for unemployment in this country. Now what is clear is whilst there is a small increase in the numbers for those employed in Australia, there’s been a very significant fall last month in the full time job numbers. We’ve seen almost 50,000 full time jobs disappear last month, and as a result we’ve seen people having to take up part time work, and there’s been an increase there.

 

The only reason there’s a net increase to employment numbers is because the part-time employment growth has taken up that role. But as I say, almost 50,000 full time jobs disappeared last month, and that’s a real problem. We have underemployment in this country. We have 1.1 million Australians looking for more work, but not being able to find it. We have over 700,000 unemployed people – that’s 1.8 million Australians underutilised - that is, looking for either some work or any work at all.

 

That’s why when the Government talks about jobs, what are they doing to deal with underemployment in this country? It is at record highs – 1.1 million Australians looking for work, not being able to find enough work and 700,000 unemployed. We have a youth unemployment rate of 12.3 per cent - still way too high. And wage growth, of course, is flat lining.

 

We have a Government completely indifferent to the flat lining of wages in this country - the lowest wages in a generation. We have, of course, a lot of challenges in the labour market. And yet, whilst the Government likes to boast about jobs, clearly these figures illustrate that there are concerns about what jobs do happen to occur or are created in the labour market. This month certainly - that is the month of January - we have seen a fall in full time job rates and full time job numbers and that’s a concern to Labor. And I think more needs to be done about wage growth.

 

Happy to take questions.

 

JOURNALIST: The Government will still be happy with the numbers, because it does still show an increase in employment growth and they are reaching their target of 1 million jobs within five years.

 

O’CONNOR: Well firstly I’d say this - the Government seems to gloat about a lot of things, even when it’s not really appropriate. Firstly I’d say this - the amount of part time jobs that have been created is not enough even to deal with natural growth of our population. 16,000 part time jobs is not enough to sufficiently keep up with our population growth. You need more jobs created each month to maintain trend figures.

 

Secondly, whilst there has been growth in part time work - as I say 50,000 full time jobs have disappeared. That’s a concern. When I get around the country, people tell me when they lose their full time jobs, the only thing they can do if they are not employed is find part-time, casual work.

 

So - growing precarious work, people employed in jobs where they are not guaranteed hours, where they are working in jobs where there are too few hours. They can’t afford to pay the bills.

 

One of the reasons, if you ask people how they feel about cost of living pressures, they are making it very clear that the cost of living pressures are acute and getting worse.

One of the reasons they are getting worse is because they can’t find enough work to pay the bills. That’s why we have a record number of 1.1 million Australians underemployed in this country.

 

The Government likes to continue to boast about the number of jobs, but it’s not just about the number of jobs. It’s about whether they’re full time or part time, it's about whether in fact they are permanent work or casualised work.

If you are waiting by the phone to see if you've got a shift at work - that provides no certainty, that creates anxiety in families for working people when they have no guarantee of minimum hours.

 

So I would suggest the Government redress this issue, and as they do they should look at the problem we have with respect to wage growth. The lowest wage growth in twenty years, enterprise bargaining is failing as a vehicle for employers and unions and workers to reach agreements which are providing decent wages for working people - there are a whole array of issues.

 

Now, we will welcome, as we always will, job growth - and we have every time there has been positive indicators we welcome them. But, we also say it's the nature of the work that's been created - and there are many people being displaced or made redundant in full time work, and they cannot find full time jobs when they are looking to reconnect with the labour market. That is a concern to Labor and I think the Government needs to redress that.

 

JOURNALIST: Is there a quick fix for under-employment?

 

O'CONNOR: Well I think firstly we should be looking at the way in which workers are dealt with in the labour market. We are concerned that casualisation is growing. The use of independent contractors in an improper way - in a sham contracting way - is leading to people not having any certainty at work, not being provided any minimum guaranteed hours, having people wait by the phone to see if they have work the following day. This is not a recipe for the workforce of this nation to have a decent life.

 

What people want to see is more secure work. In respect to your question, I think the Federal Government has a role in ensuring that people are given greater security of work - that the employers don't just get to choose whether all of the work they offer to prospective workers is in fact precarious employment.

 

In fact, they should be encouraged to employ people in a permanent sense wherever possible, but also full time jobs wherever possible, because you cannot pay the mortgage with a part time job. You cannot look after your family with a casual job. You cannot make ends meet if you do not have sufficient hours of work.

 

The one thing that completely seems to be ignored by the government is that we have a record number of Australians underemployed - 1.1 million. So 16,000 net jobs - part time jobs I might add - as an increase for January is not even sufficient to keep up with population growth, and of course the only jobs that were created last month were part-time, and unfortunately we've seen almost 50,000 full time jobs disappear.

 

That is a real problem. That's why when Australians are being asked how they feel about their living standards - they say they are feeling the pressure of those living standards. Cost of living is going up, wages are flat-lining, in some areas of the labour market wages are falling in real terms, and the Government stands up each and every day - the Prime Minister and the Treasurer - to boast about employment numbers, but they need to be permanent jobs. They need to be full time jobs, not just part-time or just casual.

 

JOURNALIST: Tony Abbott, and yesterday in his maiden speech Jim Molan, said one way that wages could increase and your full time jobs could be created is by limiting migration growth in Australia.

 

Where do you sit on that? You talk about population growth and those sorts of things, and you do have some of these politicians saying that maybe a way of increasing wages and creating more jobs is to limit migration to Australia.

 

O’CONNOR: Well, I think that sounds somewhat simplistic. It would be very interesting to know whether the Minister for Home Affairs and the Prime Minister agree with the new Senator, Senator Molan, as to whether they want to cut immigration.

 

We’ve had a bi-partisan position on the incoming permanent migration stream, where two-thirds emanate from the Skills Stream, and one-third come from Family Reunion for many years now. We are also aware that in the main, immigration helps to grow the economy. Of course, it also deals with the aging population problem.

 

An aging population is one of the big problems we have in any labour market – developed nations in particular – our population is getting older, the ratio of workers to dependants is in fact becoming more acute. Therefore immigration is a very important part of that.

 

We are a country built on immigration. Yes, you do have to look at the incoming flows of immigration based on economic growth, and I have to say that the Government needs to make sure that’s right. But Labor and the Liberals have supported immigration that has been feature of our country for decades. If the former Prime Minister and the new Senator for the Government are suggesting the Government need to do something about that, I would be interested to see whether the Treasurer, the Minister for Home Affairs, or the Prime Minister agree with that.

 

But I make the point that 16,000 jobs is not enough, because it’s not good enough to just have net employment growth – you have to have sufficient employment growth to match the growth of our population. That is the point I was making in particular.

 

I will also say this, while I am interrupting another day of boasting by the Prime Minister about job growth – there’s still more than 30,000 additional people lining the unemployment queues in this country than was the case the day that Tony Abbott was first elected. So, there is still a huge army of unemployed, and there is a greater number – 1.1 million – of under-employed Australians. They cannot find enough work.

 

That is why cost of living pressures are so acute – people do not have sufficient work to make ends meet.

 

JOURNALIST: Do you accept Barnaby Joyce’s explanation in Parliament today that the businessman in Tamworth offered him accommodation, not the other way around?

 

O’CONNOR: Firstly, I think the Member for Isaac’s, the Shadow Attorney General, outlined exactly why the Deputy Prime Minister must resign – because he is in direct breach of the Ministerial Code. He has fundamentally breached that code.

 

But what is as telling, is that today, in effort to explain his actions, the Deputy Prime minister has come into the House, and it would appear, has intentionally misled the parliament.

 

If it is the case, as the media are reporting, that his good friend, Mr Maguire, has indicated that the Deputy Prime Minister phoned Mr Maguire to ask for accommodation, and has then gone into the Parliament and said that it was in fact Mr Maguire who offered that, then the Deputy Prime Minister - on top of his breach of the Ministerial Code – has also intentionally misled the parliament.

 

I think we need to know more now. If Mr Maguire holds to his view - that it was not he that offered that accommodation, but indeed it was the Deputy Prime Minister that sought that accommodation – then we’ve got an intentional mislead by the Deputy Prime Minister which means there is another reason why he has to go.

 

Quite frankly, I am tired of having to talk about this matter. We have underemployment in this country, we have wages flat-lining – no wage growth – and yet the Government is completely consumed by a Deputy Prime Minister who refuses to accept that he is in breach of the Ministerial Code, and today it may well be the case that he has intentionally misled the parliament in so far as the accommodation he received for free from a friend.

 

Thank you.