BACKGROUND COLOUR

Working more… and feeling less secure

Insights
.
ANU Poll
.
03 Sep 2021
Economy + Financial & Job Security + Pandemic
Based on the work of
Nicholas BiddleBen EdwardsMatthew GrayKate Sollis

While working hours went up between May and August 2020, worries about losing jobs actually went up. The expectation of being out of work in 12 months was, like the April figure, the highest ever recorded. The concern rose most for those who finished Year 12 but don't have a degree.

25 %

In August 2020, people who are employed thought there was a 25% chance of losing their job at some stage in the next 12 months.

25 %

The August figure on likely job insecurity was the same as the April 2020 figure of 24.6% which was then far higher than ever previously recorded.

5 %

For those who had finished Year 12 but don’t have a degree, the expected probability of losing their job rose by 5%

1 %

Expectations of losing a job for those with degrees fell between May and August.

Increase in Number of Hours Worked with Decrease in Perceived Security
How many hours did you work last week in your main job, including any paid or unpaid overtime? What do you think is the per cent chance that you will lose your job - get retrenched or fired or not have your contract renewed - during the next 12 months?
Sources & Methodology
Variable description By month
Variable time span May 2020 - August 2020
Published by ANU Poll
Publisher Link https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/tracking-outcomes-during-covid-19-pandemic-august-2020-divergence-within
Data Source doi: 10.26193/ZFGFNE
© Copyright 2021, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National University.
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Background

ANU Poll is a quarterly survey of Australian public opinion. The topic of each survey is an issue of national importance. ANUpoll differs from other opinion polls by placing public opinion in a broad policy context, and by benchmarking Australia against international opinion. lt is also able to follow trends in opinions over many decades.

ANUpoll is collected by the Social Research Centre's panel, Life in AustraliaTM. The Social Research Centre collected data online and through Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) in order to ensure representation from the offline Australian population.

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Researchers

Professor Nicholas Biddle is Associate Director of the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods and Director of the newly created Policy Experiments Lab (http://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/pelab). He has a Bachelor of Economics (Hons.) from the University of Sydney and a Master of Education from Monash University. He also has a PhD in Public Policy from the ANU where he wrote his thesis on the benefits of and participation in education of Indigenous Australians. He previously held a Senior Research Officer and Assistant Director position in the Methodology Division of the Australian Bureau of Statistics and is currently a Fellow of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute.

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Associate Professor Ben Edwards is a Senior Fellow at the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods. An expert in longitudinal and life course studies and quantitative social scientist, Ben focuses on public policy research in the area of child and adolescent development, informal carers, intergenerational impacts of trauma (e.g. veterans, refugees) and natural disasters (e.g. drought, bushfires, cumulative disasters). He is a member of scientific advisory groups for the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth, Generation Victoria and a longitudinal cohort study in the Philippines. Ben has advised the OECD, United Nations and Australian Federal and State Government departments in designing longitudinal studies and evaluations, child welfare, non-cognitive skills, and crime prevention.

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Professor Matthew Gray is Director of the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods. Previous positions include Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Director of Research for the College of Arts and Social Sciences and Deputy Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies (2005–2010). He has published research on a wide range of social and economic policy issues including those related to Indigenous Australians. He has particular expertise in work and family issues, labour economics, social capital and social inclusion, measuring wellbeing, the economic consequences of divorce, child support, and social and economic policy development. He has undertaken extensive work on economic policy issues involving Indigenous Australians, including health status, labour market outcomes, poverty and the CDEP scheme.

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Kate Sollis is a Research Officer and PhD Candidate at the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods. Her background is in statistics and social policy, with a particular interest in the measurement of wellbeing. She has previously worked as a Research Officer at ARACY (The Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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Citation

Biddle, N., Edwards, B., Gray, M. & Sollis, K., ANU Poll August 2020, Tracking wellbeing outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic February to August 2020 [Computer file]. Canberra: Australian Data Archive, The Australian National University, 2020.

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