In the wake of yesterday’s poor employment report, which showed the headline unemployment rate at 12-year highs, Saul Eslake, chief economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, was quick to point out that the situation on the ground for younger Australians is much worse:
…since September 2008, in the depths of the global financial crisis, the number of jobs held by Australians aged under 25 fell by more than 6 per cent, while the number of jobs held by those over 25 rose to over 10 per cent. ”That helps explain why people have reacted so viscerally to the measures in the budget directed at young unemployed people,” he said.
”I don’t buy all of this, but I think it’s undeniable that many people perceive a lot of the budget to be unfair. And this is one aspect where I think that view is well founded.”
Eslake’s comments prompted me to delve further into the labour force data. And yes, the situation facing younger Australians is getting dire.
As you can see in the next chart, total employment growth for those aged 15-24 years of age has been more or less negative since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), whilst the rest of the labour force has experienced positive growth (see next chart).
Meanwhile, youth unemployment is rising strongly, sitting at 13.8% in July in trend terms versus only 4.6% for the rest of the labour force (see next chart).
Finally, the below table shows the changes in key labour force aggregates since September 2008:
As you can see, employment for 15-24 year olds has declined by 118,600 (-6.2%) since September 2008, whilst the rest of the labour market has experienced growth of 920,500 jobs (+10.4%).
This data brings into light the egregiousness of the Abbott Government’s plan to restrict welfare payments to young unemployed, as well as its Work-for-the-Dole program. Not to mention its open-slather approach to 457 visas.
To bring these programs in during what is becoming a jobs crisis for Australia’s youth is a fundamental betrayal of the Government’s duty of care.
