Youth aren’t as prepared as they once were to enter fulltime jobs, bosses warn

Businesses are warning that 23 straight years of jobs growth has meant young people no longer understand the value of hard work. And a host of vacancies are going unfilled.

• ‘We’ve got THIRTY jobs we can’t fill’

EMPLOYERS are warning 23 straight years of jobs growth has meant young people no longer understand the value of hard work.

Bosses say youth are simply not as prepared as they once were to enter fulltime jobs. And too many also have unrealistic expectations about salaries and how much hard yakka they’ll have to do to get started.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal a widespread skills shortage in Western Sydney in manufacturing — traditionally, an entry-point industry where skills can be learned on the job. There is also a shortage of skilled workers in automotive and engineering, bricklayers, painters and electricians, with many businesses having to hire outside of Sydney, or spend more money hiring older workers.

Second-year apprentice Josh Weir at work at Opie Manufacturing Group / Picture: Rohan Kelly

Yesterday the Australian Bureau of Statistics released detailed labour market figures that showed over the past year employment in Australia lifted by 179,400 jobs, the 23rd consecutive year of annual job growth.

“Employment has consistently risen in annual terms for 23 years … it is the consistency of the job gains — despite all manner of global events — that should provide encouragement to the average Aussie,” CommSec chief economist Craig James said.

Despite this rosy outlook the Australian Industry Group, a peak body which represents more than 60,000 businesses, said there are problems with filling entry level jobs in certain industry sectors in Western Sydney due to young people having attitude problems.

“Employers are finding it surprisingly difficult to find kids, particularly due to their attitude,” Mark Goodsell, AI Group NSW Branch Head, said. “It’s not only their education and their hard skills, but also their soft skills and their willingness to understand the work they are getting into and take the good with the bad.”

NEETS Ashleigh, 21, and Amy, 17, at Mount Druitt. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Mr Goodsell said there are huge problems with the education to work transition, while transport is another significant issue for Western Sydney apprentices.

“Better integrating the world of work into the education system starting in high school is really important,” he said.

TAFE Western Sydney in conjunction with Deloitte Access Economics have just completed a youth barometer pilot program, which interviewed Year 10 students across six Western Sydney high schools about their views on employment and career options.

The survey found that students wanted to have careers in education, social assistance roles or health but were not interested in manufacturing, agriculture and construction because they viewed them as too hard, too dirty and requiring too much maths.

Students also believed they had great communications skills and understood what employers were looking for with their candidates — something which employers have disagreed with.

“The reality is quite simply there is a disconnect between what employers want and what school leavers and school kids actually think they can go and do,” Duncan Ellis, TAFE commercial director for Western Sydney, said.

Josh Weir with machine shop leading hand Paul Christie at Opie / Picture: Rohan Kelly

Deloitte partner Theo Psychogios said Western Sydney businesses are having their growth prospects stifled because they are constantly investing funds into retaining young workers who lose interest in their job or are paying higher salaries to older workers to fill the roles.

“A few years ago getting two years out of a candidate was good, now six months is good investment,” he said.

Tristan Opie is the managing director of Opie Manufacturing Group, a sheet metal manufacturer based at Emu Plains who spent three years trying to find an apprentice machinist.

“We needed somebody with a really good aptitude for maths, English, somebody who has the HSC, drivers licence and commitment to go through an apprenticeship and actually complete it,” Mr Opie said.

Eventually he found Josh Weir from Werris Creek, 370km north of Sydney near Tamworth, because there were no candidates fitting the bill in Sydney.

“We gave him a go, and he’s been fantastic … now he is almost at the end of his second year,” Mr Opie said.

Mr Opie still needs another five apprentices but has so far found none.

“The people that want the job are bordering on unemployable because they are too young and don’t have the mental aptitude for it.”

BAIRD’S 4000-JOB BOOST TO THE WEST

EXCLUSIVE Alicia Wood

THE biggest government jobs move in NSW history is coming to Western Sydney, with the Baird government gearing up for 62,000 square metres of office accommodation to house more than 4000 public sector jobs in the west.

It is understood that on top of the 4000 jobs going west from government departments such as Finance, Planning and Education, the government plans to announce even more bureaucrats will be based in Western Sydney.

Finance, Services and Property Minister Dominic Perrottet will announce today that a shortlist of bidders from all over the western suburbs have been invited to submit proposals for the government’s biggest leasing commitment.

About 1700 of the jobs will be relocating from the Sydney CBD.

“Western Sydney is the beating heart of the NSW economy, and this government is laying the foundations for a boom in jobs and economic growth to match the booming population,” Mr Perrottet said.

“In terms of establishing a major public-service base in the west, this leasing search will deliver more jobs closer to where people live, and a major stimulus for the local economy,” he said.

The government plans to create a Western Sydney planning and environment hub to house 2500 jobs from the Department of Planning and Environment, Environment and Heritage and the Environment Protection Authority.

About 1600 jobs from Finance and Services will also go west, and 1800 jobs from the Education Department will move to Parramatta from 2018.

Western Sydney director of the Sydney Business Chamber David Borger said the move would be a gamechanger for the Western Sydney economy.

“Today’s announcement represents an incredible economic catalyst for Western Sydney,” Mr Borger said.

Originally published as Youth aren’t as prepared as they once were to enter fulltime jobs, bosses warn