A new report prepared by AMP NATSEM -National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling- remarks one of the most greatest economic and demographic challenges of Australia. This country needs to face one of the biggest troubles of the last 10 years: persuading employers to hire young people to replace retiring baby boomers. The fact that worries the most to the Australian government led by Tony Abbott, is the rate of youth unemployment.
The current figure of youth unemployment in the nation is the highest since the 1990s: 27.2%. The rate has grown dramatically in the last 7 years as a consequence of the worldwide financial crisis when the percentage was 16.6%. The portion of young people -15 to 19 year old- looking for work who cannot find it is now 4.5 times the general unemployment rate. Furthermore, young people are almost 3 times as likely to work part time compared to those aged over 20 -about 75% of them-. On the other hand, NATSEM’s Professor Robert Tanton believed the high rate of joblessness and part-time work reflects the difficulties young people encounter in the current labour market. “Young people are facing difficulties gaining employment due to changes in technology, tougher economic conditions and increasing requirements for qualifications, while older people are retiring and taking skills, experience and knowledge with them”, he asserted.
In conclusion, according to ‘Olddogthoughts’ blog, the report warns that Australia could be left with a shortage of skilled, experienced workers in a range of occupations unless employers start taking on younger staff to replace retiring baby boomers. However, employment growth has been slow over recent years as many businesses wait to see a durable improvement in economic conditions and consumer confidence before investing in new equipment and staff. Therefore we should not wait any more, we must tackle the difficulties of the youth employment and ‘bet on’ young people thinking about the long term. A nation without young people has no chance of achieving a bright future.
