More than half of Australians wanting to work are unable to because they are caring for children or have health issues.
The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed, in 2023-24, 29 percent of people who did not have a job were unavailable to start work because they were caring for children and 23 percent due to a long-term health condition or disability.
ABS Head of Labour Statistics Bjorn Jarvis there were 1.2 million people who wanted a job last financial year, but over 180,000 of these weren’t available.
Mr Jarvis said there continued to be major gender differences in the reasons men and women were not available for work.
“Caring for children was the top reason women were unavailable for work (at 44 percent), but this was the case for only four percent of men who were unavailable for work,” he said.
“Long-term health conditions or disability was the main reason for 44 percent of men who were unavailable for work, while it was the main reason for only 10 percent of women.”
Mr Jarvis said caring for children and health had continued to be the most common reasons for decades.
“Almost 30 percent of mothers who were unavailable for work indicated that this was due to childcare-related factors.
“For over a third (37 percent) of these mothers, childcare was the main barrier due to a lack of availability or cost.”
He said almost a quarter (24 percent) indicated the main reason they were unavailable for work was that they preferred to look after their children.
