Only half of 25yos have secure, full-time jobs

Young people face a big challenge to find job security with a new report showing only half of 25 year olds have full-time secure employment.

Jan Owen, CEO of the Foundation for Young Australians.

Young people face major challenges to find job security with a new report showing that only half of 25 year olds have full-time secure jobs even though six in ten have post-school qualifications.

According to a new report from the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) released today, (Thursday) three-quarters of young people believe they don’t have the vocational and practical work experience they need to find a job.

“They’ve done all the right things, they’ve done all the things we’ve told them to do, but that golden ticket has not converted. It’s very, very serious,” said FYA chief executive Jan Owen.

The report, titled The New Work Reality, also says that 21 per cent of young people between 15 and 24 who have full-time work still don’t enjoy job certainty because they have only casual employment without security or benefits such as holidays.

But the study also identifies four things which help young people find a job more quickly.

The top recommendation is to train in high-level “soft skills” such as problem-solving, communications and teamwork which “can increase the speed of attaining work by 17 months,” the report says.

Another tip to speed up employment is to work in a paid job relevant to your field of study while you are still studying, but this is not an easy process.

“By working 2,000 hours in a relevant job a young person can accelerate the transition by 5 months, and by working 5,000 hours a young person can accelerate the transition by 12 months,” the report says.

Unsurprisingly it also recommends young people should choose to work in an area where jobs will grow in the future. These include information-based professional services such as education or business, areas of new digital technology and health and caring service industries. It found that choosing such “future-focused” jobs can cut 5 months of the time to find employment.

Finally, the report says young people can make a difference just by adopting an optimistic mindset. “A young person who is happy with their career prospects begins working full-time hours two months faster than a young person who is not happy with their career prospects,” the report says.