Even before the region was hit by bushfires and coronavirus, the South Coast of NSW was facing a crisis of underemployment, with almost a quarter of young women wanting more hours at work.
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics from December 2019, younger people and those with low skills were more likely to be underemployed, and underemployment rates across the region were higher than for similar categories in Sydney.
Underemployment is where someone is considered employed, but would work more hours if they could.
According to the bureau, on average across the country those who are underemployed want to work 14 hours extra each week than they are currently working.
While Australia's unemployment rate has dropped between 2016 and 2019, underemployment on the South Coast has increased for many categories, most starkly for women with low skills, which jumped by 10 percentage points to just over 30 per cent in three years.
While both men and women face issues of underemployment, the gap between women in Sydney and women on the South Coast was wider than that for men, especially for young women.
One mother of five on the South Coast, who lost her job when COVID-19 travel restrictions were enforced, said the issues of underemployment and unemployment had worsened, particularly for men in the region.
"My son has had to move home to Bega, and is still waiting for Centrelink to process his application. He hasn't had any money coming in for a couple of months now," she said.
The statistics were requested from the Bureau through the Parliamentary Library by Labor's shadow assistant minister for the future of work Clare O'Neil, who said "it guts me" to think the underemployment rate was so high before the bushfires and COVID-19.
Ms O'Neil said the situation now would be "diabolical" with many more people out of work or clinging to a few hours a week, and the data showed that the economy had left people behind before the current downturn.
Labor is seeking to make jobs and skills an issue in the up-coming byelection, with candidate Kristy McBain promising to unveil a jobs plan before the July 4 poll.
"This points to a need for good regional education, better investment in TAFES, better investment in the university sector. The regional campuses are the ones that bear the brunt straight away."
Liberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs said she had wanted to create more and stronger small businesses, to create more work and more hours, including in farming businesses.
"The whole reason I am standing, and it is the same reason as I stood last time, it's about creating jobs, it's creating an economy in this area that is sustainable where there are jobs for people," Dr Kotvojs said.
