While part-time work may suit some students and people returning to the workforce after an absence, there is growing frustration among some workers wanting to work more.
Melburnian Amorette Garner-Williams juggles working 12 hours a week at a supermarket with being the main carer for her disabled sister, Arianne.
"When I applied, I assumed it would be closer to what I had been doing, which was 30 hours a week. I think it's a bit of a grab on their part. It's easier to contract people to 10 hours a week -- they don't have to pay as much."
In May, Australia's unemployment rate declined by 0.2 per cent to 5.5 per cent, adjusted for seasonal factors.
However, the Bureau of Statistics survey of underemployment showed a slight increase to 8.8 per cent in the three months to May.
Professor John Buchanan, of the University of Sydney Business School, says post-World War Two policies aimed at creating full employment ran into the oil crisis of the '70s.
He says the crisis led to inflation and priorities changed.
"The ultimate solution was held to be that we needed to get inflation under control and give markets greater power in our society. And 30 years on, it's pretty clear that has been an ineffectual strategy for really doing something serious about unemployment -- and, basically, triggered a significant rise in underemployment."
OECD countries increasingly began to show a preference for free markets and non-intervention by governments.
There was a new emphasis on how employable people were and how much businesses could afford to pay them.
And trade-union power declined over the decades.
Susie Allison, of the National Union of Workers, condemns the growing use of casual staff and short-term contracts.
And she is critical of labour-hire companies that do not offer clients the protection of enterprise agreements.
"Underemployment is actually a model of employment chosen by employers as a way to, 1, avoid the legal obligations attached to a permanent workforce, and, 2, to create a workforce that is vulnerable and voiceless."
At 38 years old, Sam Russell enjoys his job as a bicycle courier, delivering food to homes around Sydney's central business district.
But based on the pay rates he is offered, he says he would need to work 60 hours a week to earn what he needs.
He actually gets only 30 to 40 hours.
"I've always been concerned, because of my contract, that the work could suddenly evaporate or disappear. I've noticed that there's more work when it's raining, so there was very little work over summer. And because there's been a warm, dry autumn, there's been difficulty getting the amount of work I want or need."
Retail, hospitality, healthcare and tourism are all part of the economy's growing services sector, dominated by part-time work.
Alana Matheson, of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, insists employers must have flexibility in the way they hire staff.
"Without labour-market flexibility, the unemployment rate would be greater than it otherwise would be at the moment, so, in some way, the fact that people are working fewer hours will be mitigating the overall unemployment rate. But we would still say that underemployment is a symptom of a soft labour market, and we really need to be pulling all policy levers to get young people, in particular, into jobs right now."
Underemployment is also rising among professional workers as more and more finance, accounting and public-relations jobs get outsourced.
Sam Russell used to work in university administration and says junior academic staff, mostly casuals, faced a regular struggle.
"The amount of 'overwork' the university can get out of permanent staff means that people who are long-term casuals don't know if they have 10 hours of paid work or 40 hours of paid work in the upcoming semester."
Employers say one solution is having workplace laws that encourage job creation -- or, at least, do not discourage it.
Alana Matheson, of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, explains the argument.
"Important decisions, like a reduction in penalty rates, we feel should be implemented. And, concerningly, the recent increase in the minimum wage, we feel, may further dampen the prospects of those who are most vulnerable in the labour market."
At the University of Sydney, Professor John Buchanan sees different solutions.
"In the short run, you'd have a work-sharing policy, which would roll back the level of overtime. But, more fundamentally, there's going to have to be a redistribution of wealth and income so that the public sector has the capacity to give people proper jobs in health, community services and education."
