% of labour force - Source frequency: monthly · Methodology · Corrections
Australia's underemployment rate was 5.8% as of April 2026. The long-term trend is improving, though the recent 12-month direction is broadly stable. The percentage of employed people who want and are available for more hours of work than they currently have. Captures hidden labour market slack that the unemployment rate misses. A distinctly Australian problem — many workers are technically employed but cannot get enough hours. Combined with unemployment, it gives the true picture of labour underutilisation. Data is sourced from ABS Labour Force Survey (Cat. 6202.0) and updated monthly.
The percentage of employed people who want and are available for more hours of work than they currently have. Captures hidden labour market slack that the unemployment rate misses.
A distinctly Australian problem — many workers are technically employed but cannot get enough hours. Combined with unemployment, it gives the true picture of labour underutilisation.
Lower is better
Source: ABS Labour Force Survey (Cat. 6202.0)
GREEN = favourable trend within acceptable band of baseline. AMBER = flat or mild change. RED = unfavourable trend beyond threshold.
This data is sourced programmatically from official statistical APIs and data feeds (ABS Labour Force Survey (Cat. 6202.0)), updated monthly. Our pipeline fetches the machine-readable version automatically and converts it to the standardised format shown here.
See all sources and methodology on the data sources page.
