ACTU – Handing our kids out as free labour in the PaTH Program will replace real jobs, do nothing to help unemployed

3 April 2017

The Turnbull Government is ploughing ahead with the deeply troubling PaTH ‘internship’ program despite significant community concern about the impact the program will have on vulnerable young job seekers.

The program will offer up young people as free labour, displace real, wage-paying jobs, offer them no meaningful qualifications, and hand money to employers.

Youth unemployment is at historically high levels, and more desperately needs to be done, however this deeply flawed program is just another Turnbull Government cash handout for business, and must be stopped.

Quotes attributable to ACTU President Ged Kearney:

• “This is a program which runs contrary to everything we know works best to address youth unemployment and skills shortages.”
• “We know that young people need affordable education, real qualifications, and investment in apprenticeships, traineeships and cadetships to help them into full time, ongoing work.”
• “Instead, this program offers employers a fistful of cash to replace a wage-paying job with a worker that they don’t even have to pay at all, who earns less than a quarter of the legal minimum wage at $4 per hour.”
• “Instead of investing in TAFE and apprenticeships, this government proposes to tear the bottom out of the labour market by flooding it with workers who not only don’t make a dent in your payroll, but actually bring in $1000 every time you hire one.”
• “This creates a perverse incentive for employers to churn through as many young people as possible in order to keep the free labour and government hand-outs rolling in.”

Young people need real hope, real qualifications and skills and real jobs.

“The Liberal Government must end this farce and bring forward legislation that will actually do something to address the huge problems facing young people trying to make it into the workforce.”