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To enjoy the same living standards as their parents, young Australians are having to run an increasingly sophisticated obstacle course. Milestones once seen as par for the course are now almost luxurious.
They’re hurling themselves at a housing ladder that keeps moving further out of reach. HECS debts are bogging them down, growing at a faster rate than many can pay off. The cost of food, transport and childcare continues to rise.
And the one thing that could most help them get ahead – stable, secure employment – is itself becoming harder to secure.
As Irma Mooi-Reci explains today, many young people are landing permanent positions that don’t match their skills or give them enough hours, a situation known as underemployment.
Others may be luckier and secure something full-time, but only after an expensive kind of corporate volunteering – unpaid placements and internships. This requires them to work casual jobs on the side just to survive.
Now, Mooi-Reci says, there’s more evidence this cruel rite of passage could be inflicting lifelong wounds.
If young people spend too much time in and out of short-term casual work, she writes, this can lead to a significant wage gap when they’re older. And for those primarily out of work while young, the wage penalty only gets worse over time.
According to Mooi-Reci, moving between short-term jobs robs young people of the ability to establish themselves, learn and grow. Addressing the problem will require better systems to get young people into secure work early.
At the same time, we’ll need to build a more inclusive labour market that acknowledges just how prevalent insecure work has become. Every Australian has a vested interest in our young people succeeding.
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Matthew Hall
Deputy Business & Economy Editor
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Irma Mooi-Reci, The University of Melbourne
Addressing the problem will require a more inclusive labour market that better accommodates non-standard career paths.
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Stephen Duckett, The University of Melbourne
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Emma Shortis, RMIT University
The risk for the president is that he has not anticipated just how much his own foreign policy might undermine his message and the strength of his personal appeal.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Anthony Albanese will trek the Kokoda track on Tuesday and Wednesday, before attending the Anzac Day Dawn Service. The trek is a favourite with politicians.
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Milton Speer, University of Technology Sydney; Lance M Leslie, University of Technology Sydney
Flash floods are getting more common, as warmer air can hold more moisture. But there are other changes leading to more inland flooding on the east coast.
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Tim Bakken, United States Military Academy West Point; Karrin Vasby Anderson, Colorado State University
The number of prospective jurors saying they can’t be fair to Trump because of who he is does not bode well for the defendant, a legal expert observes,
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Paul Giles, Australian Catholic University
Rushdie feared until he dealt with the attempt on his life, he ‘wouldn’t be able to write anything else’. The book is a clearly cathartic story of courage and resilience, but it’s curiously one-eyed.
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Francis L Collins, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Other labour migrants in New Zealand enjoy rights broadly in line with those experienced by citizens and permanent residents – ‘low-skilled’ workers should too.
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Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland
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Politics + Society
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Robert Hamlin, University of Otago
Despite multimillion dollar price tags, rugby stadiums rarely cater to events outside of the sport. So why should communities cover the hefty bill when there is limited benefit to the wider community?
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Laura Wajnryb McDonald, University of Sydney
Journalists regularly publish photos of victims after a tragedy, but this practice has the capacity to traumatise families for years.
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Alan Pearce, La Trobe University; Stephen Townsend, The University of Queensland
For decades, some sports have fostered a win-at-all-costs culture, with concussion often an afterthought. But there are signs that attitude is changing.
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Ye In (Jane) Hwang, UNSW Sydney
So much of day to day life is not powered by technology, but what happens if you’ve been behind bars for years? It’s time prisoners better prepared inmates for life once they’ve served their time.
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Health + Medicine
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Rob Newton, Edith Cowan University
It turns out that, although such measurements are important, waist circumference and ratio to height are not the whole story when it comes to your risk of disease and death.
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Science + Technology
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Elizabeth Finkel, La Trobe University
Experts say the ‘reimagining’ of the South Australian Museum will destroy its crucial contributions to science.
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Environment + Energy
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Michael Sievers, Griffith University; Christopher Brown, University of Tasmania; Rod Connolly, Griffith University
Overall, coastal habitat restoration greatly increases animal numbers and diversity. But not all projects deliver the goods and we need to find out why.
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Arts + Culture
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Alexander Howard, University of Sydney
The Sydney Theatre Company’s captivating revival of the 1975 play, co-produced with Dublin’s Gate Theatre, manages to balance the loathing and humour of Thomas Bernhard’s writing.
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