Businesses incessant claims about ‘skills shortages’ has been shattered again, with university graduates taking 2.6 years after graduation to land a full-time job, according to a recent report from the Foundation for Young Australians:
The proportion of young Australians in full-time work prior to age 25 has also declined markedly over the past 30 years. In 1980, 53% of 15 to 24 year-olds were in full-time work, compared to only 26% today (Figure 2). Although some of this decline has been driven by young people spending longer in post-school education, many young people would like to work more if they had the opportunity. In other words, young people are underutilised in the labour market.
The underutilisation rate for 15 to 24 year-olds has increased from 19% to 30% over the past decade, well above the forty-year average of 24%. Additionally, young people aged 15 to 24 now comprise 26.6% of the long-term unemployed pool despite only making up 12.8% of the population. For young people in particular, extended periods of underemployment increase the risk of unemployment…
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Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
