Almost half of jobseeker recipients unable to work full-time due to sickness or disability

Chronic pain forced Andrew Howard out of a long career in the automotive industry. Photograph: Sia Duff/The Guardian

Near-record levels of people on the jobseeker payment are sick or have a disability, with more than 350,000 people on the dole now unable to work full-time.

Department of Social Services figures for June reveal 358,000 people on the jobseeker payment – or 43.1% – had a “partial capacity to work”, meaning they can only work between 15 and 30 hours a week.