Action needed on youth unemployment

By Jennifer Thompson The release of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures on October 12 showing an increase in unemployment (for the second month in a row) to 8.5% is bad news for federal Labor confronting an electorate which polls indicate is more concerned about unemployment than any other issue. An Australian Youth Policy and Action Coalition (AYPAC) spokesperson, David Matthews, said that "according to an ABS analysis in April, in more than half of the labour force regions surveyed by the Department of Employment, Education and Training (DEET), youth unemployment was over 30%. In north western and inner Melbourne, areas covered by the Treasurer's [Ralph Willis] electorate, the rates were 51.9% and 70.8% respectively". The DEET figures give a dismal enough picture but don't reflect the real number of young people looking for work. In July 1995, the ABS reported the seasonally adjusted rate of 28.2% of young people looking for full-time work. Yet only 21.9% were not attending school, TAFE or university and so were officially classified as unemployed. The ALP's reaction to the increasingly visible youth unemployment crisis has been to boost labour market programs, especially those targeting young people, through the Working Nation scheme which was announced prior to the last federal election. On September 24 the Minister for Employment, Education and Training, Simon Crean, announced a consultation process with young people to take place through the network of Youth Access Centres established as part of the Youth Training Initiative in the Working Nation scheme. The full results of the consultation are expected to be announced in a Youth Statement by Crean at the end of November. A number of changes have already been announced however, including the establishment of 50 Youth Liaison Officers, to be located in the Youth Access Centres. The new positions, announced on October 19, were welcomed by AYPAC. AYPAC Policy Officer, Carol Croce, told Green Left Weekly that many of the Youth Access Centres were struggling to provide case management to young people, and others had been forced to close as a result of the general staffing and resources squeeze on DEET (see article page 8). Another of the changes announced by Crean is the combination of traineeship, apprenticeship and Jobstart subsidies to employers into a single scale of rates. As a result, the subsidies to employers who take on trainees or apprentices will be higher, although the wages paid to young people will remain the same. In addition, an extra $1000 will be paid to employers taking on women trainees in non-traditional areas. The qualifying period for unemployed people 18 years old and over to attract wage subsidies has also been reduced to six months and the length of commitment required of the employer reduced to 26 weeks. Croce said that a number of AYPAC's suggestions for tackling youth unemployment are yet to be addressed by the government. Among these are the abolition of the 13-week waiting period for labour market assistance for 15- to 19-year olds; the establishment of a common youth allowance to even out the different rates of the youth training allowance, Austudy and the income support allowance; and the targeting of public sector growth at young people. In the end, AYPAC says, the government must provide jobs, not just job-related training.