The majority of workers in Australia are staying in the same job for at least one year, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which also found underemployment rates have risen over the past decade.

New ABS data, released on Monday, reveals eight out of every ten workers have remained in their current role for 12 months or more over the year ending February 2019.

These long-term workers account for more than 10 million employees in total in Australia.

“The last decade has seen fewer people leaving or losing their jobs,” ABS Head of Labour Statistics Bjorn Jarvis said. 

“This has been especially true for women, with 15 per cent of all women who worked in the year leaving or losing a job, down from 19 per cent in 2008,” Mr Jarvis said.

“This compared with 14 per cent for men in 2019, down from 17 per cent in 2008.” 

Meanwhile, underemployment rates have increased over the last decade, with more people in Australia wanting to work for longer hours and available to work those extra hours.

In 2019, 1.1 million people were underemployed. Although this figure is 26,000 less than it was the previous year, it still accounts for 8.2 per cent of the total labour force, up from 7.5 per cent in 2009. 

Mr Jarvis said almost half of those underemployed have been in that position for at least 12 months. 

“Forty-six per cent of underemployed workers in 2019 reported that they had been working insufficient hours for a year or longer – with the median duration of underemployment now at 39 weeks, up from 26 weeks back in 2009,” Mr Jarvis said. 

The report also found Australia has 11.3 million people who are over 15 years old and not working full-time. Of those, nearly two million wanted to work but couldn’t find a job. 

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