How Young People Are Faring 2006

By Dusseldorp Skills Forum

Key findings from this eighth annual review of Australian youth and their participation in learning and work.

According to this report 12 per cent of all Australians aged between 15 and 24 years were unemployed, wanting work or wanting more hours if they were already working part-time. Since 1995, full-time jobs for older Australians have risen by more than one million but declined by 14,000 for teenagers and 52,000 for young adults.

Key findings from this eighth annual review of Australian youth and their participation in learning and work include the following: completing Year 12 does make a difference; increasing numbers of students are working part-time; almost as many school-leavers go to TAFE as university; participation rates for young adults are improving; and Australia is not running out of young people.

Governments, employers and communities have good economic and social reasons to try to improve the transition of young people from school to further study and work--and in the main they have. Many state governments have introduced often innovative policies and programs designed to improve the transition by delivering better school outcomes, providing advice and support to young people and creating new post-school pathways. The Commonwealth Government has also actively pursued a policy agenda designed to improve the skills and labour force participation of young people.

Overall, in May 2006, 540,000 young Australians were not in full-time learning or work. Of these approximately 330,000 were unemployed, working part-time but wanting more hours, or were not in the labour force but wanting to work. This represents 10 percent of teenagers, 13 percent of young adults and 12 percent of all young Australians aged between 15 and 24 years. Under-employment, perhaps more than unemployment, is a major issue for young Australians.

The incentives for government could not be clearer. There is ample evidence supporting the fiscal benefits of better transitions. Skills shortages and the ageing of the workforce preoccupy public policy; and improved labour force participation of young Australians is part of the solution.

The number of young people available to enter the labour force in coming years will continue to increase - despite an ageing population - and the number of young people will continue to be substantial compared with the prime working age population.

Educational and labour force participation is socially distributed. Some groups, such as Indigenous Australians and people with disabilities, experience higher levels of less than full-time participation in study or work. The targeting and implementation of government policies and programs will be more effective if it is mapped against this distribution and takes into account the various needs of young Australians who are not fully engaged.

The young people who make a poor transition from school to further education and work experience more financial and personal stress and lower levels of participation and integration with civil society. They are less satisfied with their lives.

The present situation in which part-time and intermittent work is the everyday reality for a significant proportion of the population, the greater the risk that a culture of its own will emerge and become more difficult to change. For the moment, most young people continue to aspire to the goals of a wider Australia, including full-time paid employment.