Welcome to the second edition of our Youth Unemployment Monitor. We appreciate the support and interest since we launched this e-newsletter last month.

In this month’s issue we are looking at the very rapid rise in youth unemployment in key areas across Australia over the last two years. We've also done fresh analysis to examine what will happen if the current trend continues in these areas. The new analysis shows that we could be facing youth unemployment rates as high as 46 per cent in some parts of Australia by 2016 if the current rate of increase continues. Read our press release. 

In addition to our new data and maps on the top spots for youth jobless spikes, we have some wise words from Russell Howcroft, Executive General Manager of Channel 10, along with a snapshot of youth unemployment trends which are imposing direct and indirect costs on the economy and the community, as well as articles and news on other initiatives that are seeking to help young Australians to get their first chance in the workforce.

Tony Nicholson, Executive Director, Brotherhood of St Laurence

The new analysis by the Brotherhood of St Laurence of the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force data released just a few days ago shows severe increases in youth unemployment in many parts of Australia, particularly in regional and rural areas. View Maps:  Australia, New South Wales, Greater Sydney, Victoria, Greater Melbourne, Greater Brisbane, Tasmania.

READ FULL SNAPSHOT HERE

We looked at youth unemployment rates in regions across Australia, averaged over the 12 months to February 2012 in each region, then compared them with youth unemployment rates averaged over the 12 months to February 2014. Over the past two years, youth unemployment has risen by:

How Young People Are Faring

How Young People Are Faring is an annual report published by the Foundation for Young Australians which provides important information about the education, training and job outcomes of young people as they move from school to work or further study.

The fifteenth edition published last year found that while education and training outcomes are improving, job outcomes for many young Australians are deteriorating. Youth unemployment is on the rise and underemployment among young people is almost double the level among the broader adult population (6.9% for the whole working-age population compared with 12.6% for 15–24 year-olds.)

READ MORE HERE >

Work Inspiration

Work Inspiration is another business-led initiative designed to make young people’s first experience of work more inspiring, meaningful and practical. In particular, it aims to tackle the mismatch between the skills young people have when they leave school and the skills employers are actually looking for.

Originally developed in the United Kingdom, Work Inspiration in Australia is a partnership between The Smith Family, NAB and the Foundation for Young Australians. Work Inspiration is a program of career development, work-based learning and employability skills.

FIND OUT MORE HERE >

Generation Success

Generation Success is a business-led initiative to get more young people into the workforce and help them develop their careers, launched last month jointly by Woolworths and News Corp Australia.

It will include a roundtable to be held in April this year focused on getting young Australians job-ready, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott and senior business leaders set to speak at the event.

Launching Generation Success, Woolworths CEO Grant O’Brien said: “At a time when Australia faces significant economic headwinds as we move to a genuinely global market place, employment and job creation will be a growing challenge. We need to get the right policy settings in place to stimulate youth employment, and employers are part of that conversation”.

Some of the country’s biggest employers have signed up to participate in Generation Success, including Leighton Holdings, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Toll Group, Spotless, Telstra and Qantas, which together employ around 460,000 people in Australia.

READ THE MEDIA RELEASE >