For the past year, over 3 million Australians have faced either unemployment or underemployment, as revealed by a recent study.

Research conducted by Roy Morgan highlights that Australia’s economy has been struggling to generate sufficient job opportunities, with a significant number of people either out of work or seeking additional employment.

In the latest figures, the ‘real’ unemployment rate, encompassing both employed and unemployed individuals, stood at roughly 10 percent, equating to 1,628,000 people.

When considering ‘shadow’ workers, such as freelancers and part-time employees, the number of those seeking more work rises by an additional 1.7 million individuals.

Roy Morgan’s analysis for last month indicates a rise in overall unemployment and underemployment to 3,337,000 individuals, representing 21 percent of the workforce.

Chief executive Michele Levine says combined unemployment and under-employment is continuing at level of 3.3. million.

“A look at the employment market over the last year shows little change in the overall picture with employment down from a year ago by 91,000 to 14,339,000,” she said.

“Full-time employment is down 64,000 to 9,203,000, and part-time employment is down 27,000 to 5,136,000 from a year ago indicating the economy has struggled to create new jobs over this period.”

Levine says the low level of productivity in the economy is stifling growth and leading to the labour market stagnating.

Figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was steady at 4.3 per cent in November – roughly in line with market expectations.

The number of unemployed and employed people fell in November, by 2000 and by 21,000 respectively.

The underemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points to 6.2 per cent in November.

This was 0.1 percentage points higher than November 2024, and 2.6 percentage points lower than March 2020.