Tough job market, childcare cited as barriers to employment
More than one million people in Australia without a paid job were looking for work in 2024–25, with many of them citing lack of training and competition as barriers to employment.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that 1.2 million people in 2024–25 who did not have a paid job wanted one, including 1.1 million who were ready to start immediately or within four weeks.
Another 129,400 said they wanted a paid job but were not available within four weeks, according to the findings.
Employment barriers
The findings come amid a tough job market for jobseekers, according to SEEK, as applications per job ad have gone up to highest levels this year.
This challenging job market has been cited as one of the reasons why Australians cannot find work. Some 15% of people said there were too many applicants for available jobs, the ABS report revealed.
This reason is just behind the lack of necessary training, qualifications, or experience (16%), the most-cited difficulty for Australians who were immediately available but could not find a job.
On the other hand, people who were not available within four weeks cited childcare (32%) as the top reason they could not start work immediately. Others said:
- Long-term health condition or disability (23.4%)
- Caring for the ill, disabled, or elderly (7.2%)
- Short-term illness or injury (2.9%)
- Studying or returning to studies (0.6%)
Women made up the majority of the people (65%) who could not immediately start work within four weeks. They were also more likely (42.6%) to cite childcare as the reason than men (12.5%).
What can get people into work?
Meanwhile, the ability to work part-time hours and finding a job that matches their skills emerged as the top factors that would convince those who did not have a paid job to return to work.
For women, the most important factor was the ability to work part-time hours, followed by finding a job that matches their skills and experience.
For men, finding a job that matches their skills emerged as the top factor. This was followed by support for training or study to improve their skills.
