Despite Australia having low unemployment rates at present, a study has found that many people would like to work more.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found that a range of factors are preventing willing individuals from contributing more to the labor force.

According to the report, 1.7 million people aged over 18 wish to do more, with 1.4 million of them currently not in a job and 273,500 employed for fewer than 16 hours a week but wanting additional paid time.

As of June this year, 633,800 of those wanting more work were seeking employment or more hours, 305,6000 were not available and 776,500 were free to do so but were not actively looking for jobs or longer hours.

Nearly half (42 per cent) of the 454,000 women not currently in the labor force said they preferred to look after their own children, 23 per cent stated their offspring were not old enough to go into childcare and 15 per cent said such an option was not available to them.

ABS reported recently that joblessness in Australia stood at 5.2 per cent in October this year, as the number of people in work rose by 10,100 over the month to almost 11.5 million.