Employment and Job prospects – Long-term unemployed
Q. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about looking for work when the Covid-19 restrictions are eased?
THOSE WHO WERE UNEMPLOYED BEFORE COVID-19 AND WILL BE LOOKING FOR EMPLOYMENT ONCE RESTRICTIONS ARE LIFTED (n=135)
| TOTAL:
Agree |
TOTAL: Disagree | Strongly agree | Somewhat agree | Neither agree, nor disagree | Somewhat disagree | Strongly disagree | |
| I’m confident I’ll be able to find a well-paying job in my field at my level of experience | 29% | 43% | 6% | 23% | 28% | 21% | 22% |
| I’m confident there will be many appropriate jobs for me | 25% | 45% | 6% | 19% | 31% | 21% | 24% |
- 43% of people who were unemployed before the Covid-19 outbreak disagree that they’ll be able to find a well-paying job in their field at their level of experience and 45% disagree there will be appropriate jobs for them.
Employment and Job prospects – Recently unemployed
Q. Once the Covid-19 outbreak is over and restrictions are eased, how long do you think it will be before you are back in paid work?
THOSE WHO LOST WORK DUE TO COVID-19 (n=134)
| TOTAL | |
| I don’t think I’ll find paid work again | 10% |
| I think it will take a long time for me to find paid work | 36% |
| I don’t think I’ll be back straight away but I’m confident I’ll find paid work fairly quickly | 36% |
| I’ll be back in paid work straight away | 18% |
| I won’t be looking for paid work after the restrictions are eased | 1% |
| Base (n) | 134 |
- Less than one in five of those who have been made unemployed since Covid-19 think they’ll be back in work straight away (18%).
- 36% think it will take them a long time to find paid work and 10% think they may not find paid work again.
Employment and Job prospects – Employed
Q. To what extent you agree or disagree with the following statements about work after the Covid-19 outbreak?
THOSE WHO ARE STILL IN EMPLOYMENT (n=488)
| TOTAL:
Agree |
TOTAL: Disagree | Strongly agree | Somewhat agree | Neither agree, nor disagree | Somewhat disagree | Strongly disagree | |
| I’m confident I’ll receive a pay rise soon after things are back to normal | 21% | 50% | 6% | 16% | 28% | 24% | 27% |
| I’m confident I’ll be able to get a promotion if I want one | 22% | 44% | 6% | 16% | 34% | 22% | 22% |
| I don’t think my wages will keep up with increases in the cost of living | 48% | 19% | 17% | 31% | 33% | 13% | 6% |
- There is low optimism for wage growth following Covid-19. Just 21% agree (strongly/somewhat) that they expect a pay rise soon after things are back to normal and 22% expect to be able to gain a promotion.
- Around half of people (48%) don’t think their wages will keep up with increases in the cost of living.
Attitude towards Australia first hiring
Q. Last weekend Kristina Kenneally, a NSW senator, called for the federal government to reduce the number of temporary migrant worker visas permitted after the Covid-19 outbreak. She argues that Australian businesses should prioritise training and hiring Australians for roles, rather than seeking temporary workers to fill skill-shortages.
To what extent, do you support or oppose this idea of “Australia first” hiring?
| Gender | Age Group | ||||||
| Total | Male | Female | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | ||
| Strongly support | 41% | 36% | 46% | 27% | 42% | 53% | |
| Somewhat support | 26% | 28% | 23% | 25% | 26% | 25% | |
| Neither support, nor oppose | 21% | 21% | 21% | 30% | 24% | 10% | |
| Somewhat oppose | 6% | 7% | 4% | 10% | 3% | 5% | |
| Strongly oppose | 6% | 8% | 5% | 9% | 5% | 6% | |
| TOTAL: Support | 67% | 64% | 70% | 52% | 68% | 78% | |
| TOTAL: Oppose | 12% | 15% | 9% | 18% | 8% | 12% | |
| Base (n) | 1,067 | 532 | 535 | 341 | 341 | 385 | |
| Federal Voting Intention | ||||
| Labor | Coalition | Greens | TOTAL: Other | |
| Strongly support | 41% | 44% | 23% | 61% |
| Somewhat support | 22% | 31% | 26% | 21% |
| Neither support, nor oppose | 24% | 15% | 34% | 12% |
| Somewhat oppose | 7% | 4% | 7% | 4% |
| Strongly oppose | 6% | 5% | 10% | 2% |
| TOTAL: Support | 63% | 75% | 50% | 82% |
| TOTAL: Oppose | 13% | 10% | 17% | 7% |
| Base (n) | 306 | 418 | 86 | 143 |
- Kristina Kenneally’s “Australia first” hiring approach is supported by 67% of participants; women (70%), those over 55 (78%), Coalition (75%) and other party voters (82%) are more likely to support this approach than men (64%), 18-34 year olds (52%) and Greens voters (50%).
Employment situation during Covid-19 outbreak
Q. Which of the following best describes the impact of Covid-19 on your work:
| Gender | Age Group | Location | |||||||
| Total | Male | Female | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | Capital | Non-Capital | ||
| I wasn’t in paid work before the Covid-19 outbreak | 41% | 34% | 47% | 27% | 27% | 65% | 37% | 48% | |
| I was in paid work before the Covid-19 outbreak but am not now | 19% | 20% | 17% | 32% | 17% | 9% | 20% | 16% | |
| I’m still in paid work but am worried about losing my job because of the Covid-19 outbreak | 25% | 28% | 22% | 31% | 34% | 11% | 28% | 18% | |
| I’m still in paid work and am not worried about losing my job because of the Covid-19 outbreak | 16% | 18% | 14% | 11% | 22% | 14% | 15% | 17% | |
| Base (n) | 1,086 | 539 | 547 | 341 | 362 | 383 | 727 | 359 | |
- 25% of participants are worried about losing their job because of the Covid-19 outbreak and another 19% were in paid employment before the outbreak, but now are not.
- 32% of 18-34 year olds say they were in paid work before the Covid-19 outbreak but am not now – this is higher than 35-54 year olds (17%).
Impact of Budget on employment
Q. Do you think the Government’s budget will be good or bad for employment in Australia?
|
Total
|
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
| Total good |
21% |
8% |
46% |
3% |
11% |
|
| Total bad |
49% |
76% |
15% |
74% |
67% |
|
| Very good |
4% |
4% |
8% |
– |
1% |
|
| Good |
17% |
4% |
38% |
3% |
10% |
|
| Neither good nor bad |
21% |
13% |
31% |
12% |
16% |
|
| Bad |
24% |
30% |
13% |
37% |
31% |
|
| Very bad |
25% |
46% |
2% |
37% |
36% |
|
| Don’t know |
9% |
4% |
8% |
11% |
5% |
49% think that the Government’s budget will be bad for employment in Australia and 21% think it will be good for employment.
Among those earning less than $600pw, 17% think it will be good and 60% think it will be bad.
Employment by religious organisations
Q. Should religious organisations be allowed to refuse to hire people who don’t live according to the organisations’ beliefs?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Men |
Women |
Aged 18-34 |
Aged 35-54 |
Aged 55+ |
|
| Yes |
34% |
26% |
42% |
22% |
34% |
33% |
35% |
31% |
37% |
| No |
52% |
58% |
48% |
63% |
54% |
51% |
54% |
50% |
54% |
| Don’t know |
14% |
16% |
10% |
15% |
12% |
15% |
11% |
19% |
9% |
34% think that religious organisations should be allowed to refuse to hire people who don’t live according to the organisations’ beliefs and 52% think they should not.
Those most likely to think they should not were Labor voters (58%), Greens voters (63%) and respondents on lower incomes (57% of those earning less than $1,000pw).
Australian Workers under a Liberal Government
Q. Do you think Australian workers would be better off or worse off under a Liberal Government lead by Tony Abbott?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Work full time |
Work part time |
|
| Total better off |
32% |
8% |
65% |
8% |
35% |
27% |
| Total worse off |
37% |
75% |
4% |
65% |
34% |
40% |
| A lot better off |
15% |
3% |
33% |
– |
17% |
12% |
| A little better off |
17% |
5% |
32% |
8% |
18% |
15% |
| Make no difference |
19% |
12% |
22% |
15% |
21% |
20% |
| A little worse off |
9% |
12% |
3% |
17% |
10% |
11% |
| A lot worse off |
28% |
63% |
1% |
48% |
24% |
29% |
| Don’t know |
11% |
5% |
8% |
12% |
9% |
12% |
32% think that Australian workers would be better off under a Liberal Government lead by Tony Abbott and 37% think they would be worse off – and 19% think it would make no difference.
Full-time workers split 35% better off and 34% worse off while part-time workers were more likely to think workers would be worse off (40% worse off/27% better off).
43% of respondents aged 45-64 think workers would be worse off and 31% better off. 40% of those earning under $1,000 pw thought workers would be worse off and 33% better off.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Download this week's ReportEssential Report
Two Party Preferred:
In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Top Federal Government priorities for 2021
- Uptake of a Covid-19 vaccine
- Perceptions of change in the standard of living for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Changing views towards Australia Day
- Support towards a separate national day
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