AMP and the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) have released a new report examining the state of the Australian labour market, which has found that Australia’s youth is bearing the brunt of the deteriorating economy and technological change, with young people under the age of 20 four and a half times more likely to be unemployed than older Australians.
Moreover, 75% of youth in the labour force are working part time as they try to gain some experience and attempt to pay their way through university or higher education.
According to the report:
One possible reason for the increasing difference between youth unemployment and overall unemployment is that technological change has meant many jobs that young people used to do are now being done by computers. Examples are sales jobs, as companies move to online sales; and staff at supermarket checkouts, where large supermarkets now provide self service.
One barrier for young people getting into the workforce is that employers are looking for people with experience, and young people can’t get experience in a field without a job. This can mean many young people continue in their part time university jobs after they’ve finished studying, so we see people with degrees working as sales people or in hospitality.
This is evident in the proportion of people with a bachelor degree or greater working as sales assistants. This is highest for people aged 20–29 (Figure 10), and then decreases dramatically to a stable level of 2–3 per cent, possibly representing those with a career in the industry.
Of course, there is nothing here that we don’t already know, given Australia’s deteriorating youth unemployment is a topic that receives great attention at MacroBusiness.
However, the report does highlight, once again, the egregiousness of the Abbott Government’s plan to deny under-30s access to unemployment benefits for six months, along with its Work-for-the-Dole program and open-slather approach to 457 visas.
Australia’s youth are already struggling to find work, and these measures are tantamount to pouring salt on their wounds.
