14th November, 2013
The number of long-term unemployed rose to an 11-year high in October.
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed there were 145,400 people counted as unemployed for a year or more, more than double the low of 65,900 recorded in July 2008, just before the world’s financial system weet haywire.
The October level was the highest for this seasonally-adjusted measure since April 2002.
As a proportion of the available labour force, the long-term unemployment rate rose to 1.2 per cent, a level last seen in September 2004.
The all-time high for number of long-term unemployed in the data going back to 1978 was 329,800.
That was recorded in May 1993, in the wake of the early-1990s recession.
The highest long-term jobless rate of 3.8 per cent was recorded in the same month.
The long-term jobless rate had earlier peaked at 3.0 per cent of the labour force in February 1984, also in the aftermath of a severe recession.
At that time, 213,200 people had been out of work but looking and ready to start – the international standard definition of unemployment – for more than 12 months.
Long-term unemployment typically follows trends in total unemployment with a delay of about a year.
Both the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed have inched up over the past year.
And there appears to be little prospect of any improvement over the coming year, so the higher rate of long-term joblessness will most likely be with us for at least a couple more years