Over a quarter of part-time workers (27%) aged 15-24 years want to work more hours, according to an Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) report.

ABS Director of Labour Force and Supplementary Surveys, Cassandra Gligora said the survey found there were many Australians working part-time who would like to find full-time employment.

"Of the 824,100 part-time workers who would prefer more hours, over half (55 per cent) would prefer to work full-time.”

“While more women were employed part-time, a higher proportion of male part-time workers were underemployed (28 per cent compared with 19 per cent of women). The greatest difference was reported for those aged 35-44 years (42 per cent for men and 17 per cent for women).”

"The Underemployed Workers survey collected information in September 2012 about underemployed workers aged 15 years and over. The survey included information on the number of hours they usually worked, number of preferred hours, steps taken to find work with more hours and difficulties finding work with more hours,” Ms Gligora said.