Youth unemployment in Australia – The Brotherhood of St Laurence has just released a new report

The Brotherhood of St Laurence has today released a new report on the growing scourge of youth unemployment and underemployment in Australia, which is at the worst level since records began in 1978, with more than 580,000 Australians aged 15 to 24 either under-employed or unemployed:

Today, young people are more likely to be underemployed – to have some work but want more hours – than at any time in the last 36 years…

Presently, there are more than 310,000 people aged 15 to 24 who are underemployed in Australia. When you add the numbers who are without any work, more than a quarter of 15 to 24 year olds in the labour market – that is, more than 580,000 young Australians – are either underemployed or unemployed.

Figure 1 shows the rate of underemployment for the 15–24 age group and for the overall employed population from February 2000 to May 2014. The proportion of employed people between 15 and 24 years of age who are underemployed is now twice that among the overall working-age population.

The graph also shows an upward trend in underemployment among young workers, which accelerated after the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2008. By May 2014, more than 15 per cent of workers in the 15–24 group were underemployed – the highest rate since this ABS data series started in 1978, when the rate stood at 3.1 per cent…

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  Australia’s growing youth unemployment scourge | | MacroBusiness.