Youth unemployment numbers make grim reading

Unemployment means we are losing a generation of Australians to poverty.

OECD economist Stephane Carcillo, left, and UN social affairs officer Marco Roncarati at the First Global CoAct conference in Canberra. Picture: Lukas Coch

Australia risks falling behind other OECD countries because it is failing to make a dent in youth unemployment, the chief executive of social services and employment umbrella group CoAct says, and more job opportunities need to be created.

Matt Little, who leads what was formerly known as the not-for-profit body Job Futures, says the state of social affairs is grim reading, but greater innovation and collaboration with employment providers, community groups and government sectors can improve job outcomes.

“The current slow pace of the economic growth is a matter of deep concern,” Little says. “The youth unemployment rate remains unchanged at 13.6 per cent, which is more than double the average unemployment rate.

“We are losing a generation of Australians to poverty, unable to afford housing in our major cities and becoming increasingly separate from the wider community.”

Australia’s youth unemployment rate is almost double those of Switzerland and Germany. The figures are also below 10 per cent in Austria, Mexico, Norway, Japan and Iceland.

Spain and Greece are facing youth unemployment of more than 50 per cent as their economies near collapse, and Italy hovers above 40 per cent.

Little hosted a conference this week on employment issues and how to innovate through entrepreneurship to improve job opportunities.

Keynote speaker and UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific officer Marco Roncarati says Australia is facing the same issues that OECD and Asian countries are battling with long-term unemployed, such as disenfranchisement and increasing alcohol and drug abuse.

These issues are relevant to indigenous communities, he says, where outcomes are not very promising compared with other countries. He says indigenous people have to be given a sense of worth, culture and value in any community, and a recognition that their opinions count. That would mean greater consultation in communities about where their young people want to work and what jobs are suitable, rather than being prescriptive about apprenticeships and training.

“You have to have proactive programs which engage these people on their terms,” Roncarati says. “I don’t know how many programs actually go to these people and say ‘What do you want, can you help us design these?’ rather than a top-down approach.

“Maybe we have good experiences from other countries which work, we can share these and say: ‘How does that sound? Would that be an improvement, could we do this?’ We have to engage them, that’s fundamental.”

Roncarati says it could take a generation to fix high unemployment. He says older Australians have different values to younger workers, and industries are changing rapidly as technology evolves.

He says the education system has to evolve to teach about emerg­ing energy and environmental needs, and jobs will emerge in new fields to replace those vulnerable to downturns, such as manufacturing.

“Australia needs to rethink the kind of jobs you’re going to need and the way the country is heading,” he says.

As new markets open, Roncarati says, education is key because it is increasingly harder to find work without qualifications.

Roncarati and OECD senior economist Stephane Carcillo agree that engagement is critical if youth people are to return to study or training.

Carcillo says intervention should begin with pregnant women in low socioeconomic areas, to teach them how to stimulate their children, interact with their toddlers and better develop communication skills. Intervention then could be enhanced in early childhood education and primary school, including providing mentors to encourage children to stay in education.

“The later you intervene the more expensive it’s going to become,” Carcillo says. “The rate of return is higher when you engage earlier. It can work if you intervene as early as kindergarten.”

He admits some youths will fall through the gaps after leaving school and it can be difficult to re-engage the long-term unemployed to return to training, even with intensive support from counsellors.

“For these most disadvantaged youths, those who will actually remain unemployed or inactive for a long period, the key thing is to have the availability of these ser­vices at the local ground to help them re-engage,” he says.

“It’s not enough to have jobs, it’s not enough to have educational programs, you also have to motivate and re-engage these young people and it’s important not only in Australia but in other countries as well.”

Carcillo says Australia also could consider youth guarantees, which are implemented in several European countries, where those unemployed for 90 days or more are placed back in high school if they have not finished their schooling, are in further training or in a job subject to discussions with a counsellor.

If they do not agree, Carcillo says, their benefits are reduced.

Re-engaging people through intensive programs can be highly successful, he says, but costly.

Citing the American Job Corps program, which involves young people living on-site for up to two years, Carcillo says teaching foundation and vocational skills can be beneficial. “What makes the difference with this program is the relationship with these mentors, and they learn non-cognitive skills, the life skills, the motivation, the ability to work with others, the ability to show leadership, the ability to show resilience and start again when they fail,” Carcillo says.

“They learn all of these life skills they probably don’t have at home ... there’s no reason we couldn’t do it here, we have a lot of non-government organisations that could do it.”

Only those from families with low incomes and who have not finished school are eligible, ensuring Job Corps targets those most in need of intensive engagement.

He says federal and state governments also could consider offering transport, accommodation and drivers licence subsidies for young people living in areas where unemployment is high, to help them travel to regions where jobs are easier to come by.

Verity Edwards travelled to the conference in Canberra as a guest of CoAct.