Extract from The Guardian
In a short time, we’ve become a nation that is unable to see its
young enter either the labour or housing market without difficulty
On Tuesday night, the treasurer began his budget speech, asking:
“What have you achieved? What are you going to do now? What does it mean
for me?”
For young Australians watching, they might have been wondering, “What have you done for me lately?”
The answer? Nothing.
Over the past four years, this government’s budgets have been detrimental to young people and their futures.
This was no more evident than the 2013-14 budget, in which former treasurer Joe Hockey admonished young Australians, insisting that they should be “earning or learning” and that those under the age of 30 would need to wait for up to six months before they could access benefits.
This was the same year that youth unemployment rate peaked at 14.1% – the highest since 1998. With or without this context, this budgetary measure was unnecessarily cruel given that that the very definition of unemployed is those looking for work, suggesting young people wanted to be “earning”.
The young have also become policy experiments under this government. The “prepare, trial and hire” (Path) program announced in the 2015-16 budget by treasurer Scott Morrison offered up young people as lowly paid interns, and Path has been criticised for its lack of a pathway to secure work.
While there have been a change in treasurers, we have seen little change in the way governments have approached youth issues in the budget. Budgets matter because, aside from election time or the odd announcement about education funding, young people are rarely the subject of policy in this country.
Budgets are where decisions about young people are most often made. However, budgets have continually failed to address the problem of youth unemployment. The unemployment rate for young people at present is still twice that of the general population at around 12%.
In some regions, like the Queensland outback, it is as high as 67%, meaning that two out of three young Queenslanders in this area are looking for work. Evidence suggests that youth employment in the regions has gone backwards in recent years. This is nothing short of a crisis and should warrant the attention of all politicians.
It’s been almost 10 years since the global financial crisis, and the fortunes of young Australians have barely improved over this period. It’s highly unlikely the youth unemployment rate will return to pre-GFC levels of around 8% anytime soon, if ever.
The focus of this year’s budget, aside from income tax cuts, was on Baby Boomers and their forthcoming retirement.
It’s an interesting scenario in which we see a government keen to keep older Australians in their homes but are negligent when it comes to young people entering the housing market.
Homeownership rates for young people are in rapid decline and this is another critical aspect of young people’s lives that needs addressing. This is not an emerging social issue, we’ve been discussing it for years.
Housing is integral to wealth creation in this country, but the great Australian dream is increasingly out of reach for young people, especially those who are unable to rely on their parents for financial assistance.
And what does this all mean? In a very short time, we have become a nation that is unable to see its young enter either the labour or housing market without difficulty. We are raising a generation of young adults who are highly reliant upon their families because they have limited support from their government.
They are entering an uncertain economy and have even more uncertain futures. But we need these young people more than we realise. They are our future workers who will have to shoulder the cost of our ageing population. They will also raise the next generation of Australians, but how will they do this without adequate jobs or housing?
In what seems like the distant past, young people used to be supported by governments – and this was during a time when the full-time youth labour market was a viable alternative for those not wanting to go into further study. But as the youth labour market disappeared, so too has government support and a more sympathetic understanding of the challenges young people face.
Perhaps we’ve let debates about smashed avocados and definitions about what a Millennial is obscure some basic truths: for young people growing up in 2018, entering either the labour or housing market is not as easy as it once was. Governments have the ability to do something about that. And they should.
• Brendan Churchill is a research fellow at the University of Melbourne.
For young Australians watching, they might have been wondering, “What have you done for me lately?”
The answer? Nothing.
Over the past four years, this government’s budgets have been detrimental to young people and their futures.
This was no more evident than the 2013-14 budget, in which former treasurer Joe Hockey admonished young Australians, insisting that they should be “earning or learning” and that those under the age of 30 would need to wait for up to six months before they could access benefits.
This was the same year that youth unemployment rate peaked at 14.1% – the highest since 1998. With or without this context, this budgetary measure was unnecessarily cruel given that that the very definition of unemployed is those looking for work, suggesting young people wanted to be “earning”.
The young have also become policy experiments under this government. The “prepare, trial and hire” (Path) program announced in the 2015-16 budget by treasurer Scott Morrison offered up young people as lowly paid interns, and Path has been criticised for its lack of a pathway to secure work.
While there have been a change in treasurers, we have seen little change in the way governments have approached youth issues in the budget. Budgets matter because, aside from election time or the odd announcement about education funding, young people are rarely the subject of policy in this country.
Budgets are where decisions about young people are most often made. However, budgets have continually failed to address the problem of youth unemployment. The unemployment rate for young people at present is still twice that of the general population at around 12%.
In some regions, like the Queensland outback, it is as high as 67%, meaning that two out of three young Queenslanders in this area are looking for work. Evidence suggests that youth employment in the regions has gone backwards in recent years. This is nothing short of a crisis and should warrant the attention of all politicians.
It’s been almost 10 years since the global financial crisis, and the fortunes of young Australians have barely improved over this period. It’s highly unlikely the youth unemployment rate will return to pre-GFC levels of around 8% anytime soon, if ever.
The focus of this year’s budget, aside from income tax cuts, was on Baby Boomers and their forthcoming retirement.
It’s an interesting scenario in which we see a government keen to keep older Australians in their homes but are negligent when it comes to young people entering the housing market.
Homeownership rates for young people are in rapid decline and this is another critical aspect of young people’s lives that needs addressing. This is not an emerging social issue, we’ve been discussing it for years.
Housing is integral to wealth creation in this country, but the great Australian dream is increasingly out of reach for young people, especially those who are unable to rely on their parents for financial assistance.
And what does this all mean? In a very short time, we have become a nation that is unable to see its young enter either the labour or housing market without difficulty. We are raising a generation of young adults who are highly reliant upon their families because they have limited support from their government.
They are entering an uncertain economy and have even more uncertain futures. But we need these young people more than we realise. They are our future workers who will have to shoulder the cost of our ageing population. They will also raise the next generation of Australians, but how will they do this without adequate jobs or housing?
In what seems like the distant past, young people used to be supported by governments – and this was during a time when the full-time youth labour market was a viable alternative for those not wanting to go into further study. But as the youth labour market disappeared, so too has government support and a more sympathetic understanding of the challenges young people face.
Perhaps we’ve let debates about smashed avocados and definitions about what a Millennial is obscure some basic truths: for young people growing up in 2018, entering either the labour or housing market is not as easy as it once was. Governments have the ability to do something about that. And they should.
• Brendan Churchill is a research fellow at the University of Melbourne.
No comments:
Post a Comment