One in six Victorians said they had a job but no work: ABS

Only 4.6 per cent of Australians across the rest of the country are also in jobs but working zero hours.

The stage four lockdown has devastated the Victorian labour market. (Picture by NewsWire’s Wayne Taylor.)

Close to 870,000 Victorians – around 17 per cent of the state’s adult population – reported they had a job but were working zero hours in mid-August, according to a newly released ABS household survey.

Premier Daniel Andrews at the start of the month said Melbourne’s lockdown and tighter restrictions across the state to suppress a second wave of COVID-19 cases would double the number of stood-down workers to 500,000.

But the latest survey from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on the pandemic’s impact on households suggests the number could be significantly higher.

The 16.9 per cent of adult Victorians who said they had a job and were working no hours compared with only 4.6 per cent in a similar situation across the rest of the country, the ABS report showed.

Nationally, the proportion of Australians aged 18 years and over who had a job working paid hours remained stable at around 60 per cent between early July and mid-August, the ABS said.

Around one in eight, or 13 per cent, of respondents in mid-August said they were receiving the $550 JobSeeker supplement, the Australian Bureau of Statistics survey on the impact of COVID-19 on households revealed.

A similar proportion – 14 per cent – said they were receiving the JobKeeper Payment from their employer.

The survey also showed that close to two thirds of Australians receiving JobKeeper payments were earning less than they were before the crisis, while 14 per cent said they were making more.

Of those receiving the supplement or the wage subsidy, in both cases more than eight in 10 said they had used the payment to meet household bills, making it the most commonly reported use of the money.

Encouragingly, close to nine in 10 respondents (87 per cent) reported their household expected to be able to pay bills received in the next three months – albeit a decline on the 94 per cent surveyed in June.

One in 50 Australians did not expect to be able to pay bills received in the next three months, the ABS reported, while 11 per cent reported they were unsure whether or not they would be able to meet commitments in the near future.

Both the JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments will be reduced from September 27, with eligibility requirements for the wage subsidy scheme tightened.