More and more Australians are being forced to work two jobs to make ends meet, with Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) confirming underlying problems in the labour market such as the rise in underemployment and insecure work.

Federal Member for Blair Shayne Neumann MP said that the report made it clear that many Australians are doing it tough.

“The latest employment numbers paint a grim picture for Australian workers.

“Over 700,000 Australians are being forced to work a second job just to make ends meet, with the growth in secondary jobs passing the growth in main jobs over the past three years.

“Underemployment is at a record high, with over 1.1 million Australians not getting enough work and unable to find more.

“All up, over 1.8 million Australians are either unemployed or underemployed.

“This comes at the same time as wage growth is at record lows, more than failing to keep pace with the cost of living and making it harder than ever for working Australians to get ahead.”

Mr Neumann said that the statistics point to serious, long term problems in the Labour market that the Turnbull Government urgently needs to address.

“Work is getting less and less secure, wage growth remains at rock bottom levels, and Australians are having to juggle multiple jobs just to make it through each week.

“Yet the Turnbull Government is intent on making life even tougher, delivering cuts to penalty rates for some of the country’s lowest paid workers.

“Malcolm Turnbull needs to spend less time looking out for millionaires and big business, and more time talking to real workers who are having to deal with less pay and less job security.”