Jobs and wages emerged as key talking points in the lead up to the 2019 federal election, with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten bemoaning the extent of underemployment in Australia and the prevalence of "second jobs". "There's a million Australians doing two jobs and there's a million Australians who are underemployed," Mr Shorten claimed. Is that right? RMIT ABC Fact Check found Mr Shorten is correct. Both claims ' that a million Australians are underemployed and a million Australians are working two jobs ' check out according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures. However, as one expert told Fact Check: "There's nothing spectacularly new here." According to the data, the number of people holding down multiple jobs as a proportion of the labour force has remained steady over a number of years. Also, underemployment has fallen in recent months.
Verdict: Correct