In an age of low unemployment in Australia, what about those locked out of the jobs market?

22-year-old Alex Paine is a long-term job seeker who lives with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a medical condition that makes it hard to find suitable work. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins/The Guardian

As we herald this new age of record low unemployment, there is a little-known but long-term trend that ought to be injected into the public discourse.

The fact the Australian Bureau of Statistics unemployment rate has dipped dramatically in the past few months, and will potentially fall below 4% on Thursday, has been welcomed by the Coalition, Labor and economists as a good thing.