Young and old must be engaged to build our future workforce

The federal budget had a renewed focus on job creation but did little to tackle issues facing young and mature-age workers.

The federal budget was an opportunity for the government to reassure wide sectors of Australian industry that were left disillusioned after last year’s budget.

What we have seen is a much-needed renewed focus on job creation, but little in the way of long-term policy direction to tackle the issues facing young and mature-age workers.

As it becomes increasingly evident Australia’s workforce is competing on the world stage, it is encouraging to see participation feature high on the government’s agenda and more incentives aimed at instilling confidence.

The centrepiece of the budget is the small-business incentive package — a welcome attempt to stimulate confidence and growth. To create the increase in momentum the government is seeking with these initiatives, it must now tackle intractable issues such as workplace regulations, while the burden of penalty rates needs recognition as a priority allowing our smaller enterprises — the engine room of the economy — to grow and employ.

In addition to focusing on job creation, the government must take the lead in developing strategies to engage the young and old in our future workforce.

The youth unemployment rate remains more than 13 per cent, more than twice the national rate of 6.1 per cent. The youth employment strategy is long overdue. It will need to be built on to tackle the challenges we face when it comes to long-term unemployment, particularly among youth.

We, as a nation, need to work collectively to minimise the risk of creating a lost generation, disenfranchised from the notion of work and ultimately disadvantaged. The public and private sectors must pull together to change our approach, not only to unemployment but also the equally critical priority of workforce readiness.

What we are seeing is insufficient preparedness. We need to see more, and stronger, initiatives that focus on developing the skills required by Australian employers. Integrated initiatives that focus on honing the skills of our next generation of workers have to become the new norm to create an agile and flexible workforce.

The direction of funds to early school-leavers is to be welcomed but highlights the importance of adding graduate employment to the national agenda. More than 11 per cent of graduates remain out of work four months after finishing their degrees. There is an opportunity for government, business and educational institutions to collaborate to turn out graduates who are work-ready and an asset to smaller enterprises and the economy as a whole.

Mature-age workers are feeling intense pressure to remain in the workforce as the uncertainty around retirement increases. Rather than restructuring incentives, such as Restart, to minimise age discrimination, the government needs to work to communicate the value of our older workers to business, and foster a positive work life before retirement.

Now is the time to focus on building a globally competitive workforce, and this needs to fully account for both ends of the spectrum: older and younger workers. We cannot expect the government alone to fix it; we need significant buy-in from the private sector to tackle this national issue.

Lincoln Crawley is managing director of ManpowerGroup Australia and New Zealand.