After the MMA factory closed, studies showed that ex factory workers typically fell into one of three roughly equal in size categories. So about one third moved to other full time work, about one third moved to part time work, and one third either retired or never worked again, despite being of working age.South Australia now has the highest unemployment rate in Australia at nearly 7%, so much for the closure of the car industry being absorbed by bum-wiping and hospitality.
I read the other day that Australia has something like 1.5 million under-employed people, the highest rate in the OECD - and that wages growth continues to fall below inflation. There's no way we can return to any kind of prosperity unless we can create demand in employment and at the moment government-funded job creation (NDIS etc) isn't enough.