Youth unemployment rates in Newcastle are soaring above the state average, with a key regional welfare organisation blaming a lack of traineeships and other job-creation initiatives for the crisis.
Labour force figures from the federal Department of Employment show the jobless rate among those aged 15 to 19 in the Newcastle district stood at 32.6 %, or 6.3 % above the NSW average, in December last year.
Statistics for Newcastle – which also include Lake Macquarie residents looking for full-time work – are higher than for the Central Coast, where about 28 % of the ‘‘teenage’’ category cannot find a job.
In the wider ‘‘youth’’ category of 15 to 24, Newcastle recorded a rate of 12.5 % compared with the state average of 11.7 %.
Cec Shevels, chief executive of Hunter-based welfare organisation the Samaritans Foundation, said youth unemployment in the region was a persistent and ‘‘real’’ problem that showed no sign of abating.
Mr Shevels said Australia should be following the lead of the European Union in trying to guarantee a job to every youth coming out of training within four months. ‘‘I think the problem we have in the Hunter is the nature of work has changed – you can’t get a job at BHP any more. And while there are now a more diverse range of employment opportunities, they tend to be knowledge-based industries that require post-school training,’’ he said.
‘‘We are not doing well enough in the education area. Not enough kids are completing year 12 and not enough are completing post-school training. And while ever that happens, we will be in trouble because you really have to train for just about everything these days.’’
Mr Shevels warned that penalising youth who breached their youth allowance or welfare payments was not the answer.
‘‘We have to give them genuine opportunities and expect them to take them, and we don’t do that,’’ he said.
‘‘We can say ‘It’s all their fault, they can try harder’, but that’s too simplistic. They can try but we must give something to try for.’’
No comments:
Post a Comment