The Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) has released a new report, entitled Renewing Australia’s Promise: Report Card 2016, examining how young Australians are faring economically, and finds that today’s young Australians are facing the very real possibility that they will be the first generation to be worse-off than their parents.
The FYA identifies several key challenges facing young people, including:
- High youth unemployment;
- An education system that is struggling to adapt to changing needs in the workplace; and
- Rising housing costs and debts.
Young people will also be called upon to support the ageing population, given that by 2054 there will be only 2.7 workers for every retiree in Australia, down from 4.5 in 2015.
The FYA notes that today’s young are more educated than ever, even though the cost of attaining their education has soared:
However, the standards in education are declining:
However, their expensive higher education is not adequately preparing them for work:
Work is less secure than previously:
And underemployment is rife:
Young Aussies have also fallen behind in pay relative to the other age groups:
Meanwhile, the cost of housing – both owner-occupation and renting – has soared:
Whereas, young Aussies are facing a lifetime of debt servitude, just as they are called upon to support older Australians:
The FYA concludes by noting that today’s younger generation may be the first in history to contribute more to government coffers than they receive:
Unfortunately, with little political representation, the dire situation facing younger Australians is likely to fall on deaf ears and won’t change anytime soon.
If anything, the power of the “grey vote” is increasing. According to analysis published last week, the proportion of voters aged 65 or over has increased from 18.6% at the 2007 Federal Election to 22.0% currently, with the share of voters aged 18 to 24 shrinking from 11.2% in 2007 to 10.6% currently.
