Young Western Australians are spending up to half the year looking for a job, with many blaming a slowdown in the economy and limited training opportunities.
Young Western Australians are spending up to half the year looking for a job, with many blaming a slowdown in the economy and limited training opportunities.
More than 85 per cent of respondents to a Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia survey of almost 1,000 young people reported they believed it was difficult to get a job, while almost a third said they were unable to find employment last time they tried.
This is the first time the organisation has carried out such a survey, with the majority of respondents aged between 14 and 25 years old.
More than 40 per cent of those surveyed said it took them more than five months of looking to secure a job, with about a fifth reporting they applied for more than 50 jobs in their last search.
Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia chief executive Craig Comrie said many young people were stuck in the trap of not having experience, but not being given the chance to gain experience.
He said a recent federal government decision to cut funding to the Youth Connections program, which assists young people one-on-one to find jobs, had reduced the number of providers in WA from eight to two, making it even more difficult for young job seekers.
Mr Comrie said almost half of respondents thought negatively about their chance of finding a job in their chosen career in the future.
“Many young people who answered the survey are very worried about the downturn in the economy and rising youth unemployment in WA, and many feel this means they will miss out on their chosen career path,” he said.
“We are concerned that the federal government’s new approach to youth employment will force young people into any old job just to make the statistics look better, rather than assisting young people to find jobs they are actually interested in.
“We believe this approach will ultimately fail, because young people will become quickly disinterested in jobs they don’t enjoy or find challenging and will not stay in those positions.
In the open comments section of the survey one respondent said they viewed the current market as terrible, with no signs of improving.
“I've accepted the sad reality (that) regardless of my passion I will not likely get a job in that field, be it law or finance or economics or physics,” they said.
Others spoke of a perceived negative stigma towards youth and a lack of training opportunities.
“No employer wants to train us,” one respondent said.
“I've worked part time in my field for two years and now have a bachelor’s (degree), but it’s still not enough experience. Most common selection criteria for ‘entry level jobs’ and ‘graduate roles’ is minimum three to five years of experience.”