A million people may be missed in the Treasurer’s new jobs target. 

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says this week’s federal budget will seek to drive down unemployment below 5 per cent.

But shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers says over one million Australians have jobs but cannot get enough hours, and will not be helped by the new measures.

“It’s not just the unemployment rate that matters. There’s a lot of people who are working but can’t find enough hours to support their loved ones,” Dr Chalmers told ABC reporters.

“So any jobs policy, if we’re looking for that growth in wages, which has been more or less absent over the past eight years of this Coalition government, we need to address unemployment, but we also need to address underemployment. That’s important too.”

Underemployment is a measurement of working-age Australians with jobs that want to work more hours.

ABS data shows around 1.1 million Australians, or 7.9 per cent of the workforce, are currently classified as underemployed.

More analysis is accessible here.