You may be surprised to learn that schools around the country spend less than the cost of a cup of coffee per student per year on career advice. That's despite the fact youth unemployment has hovered around the 12-13 per cent mark for the last few years.

In New South Wales, there are no minimum standards for career guidance courses in schools, and advocacy group Youth Action reckons that means young people aren't getting the advice they need to succeed in the modern jobs market.

Most schools spend less than $3 per student per year [on career advice]."

"So about $3 gets thrown into teaching young people what their careers should look like and how to point them in the right direction, and we don't think that's good enough," Katie Acheson from Youth Action told Hack.

The organisation wants more $$ pumped into career guidance in schools, the formation of minimum standards for the industry in NSW and better connections between businesses and schools so young people can find out for themselves what path suits them best.

"Let's put a strategic plan in place to make sure that the guidance we're giving young people is going to mean we have the workforce we need for the future," Katie said.

"They already have the building blocks, so let's put some money into it and make sure the strategy is in place not just for this year, but for next year and ten years in advance."

Students 'pushed towards uni'

Youth Action also wants better career development... for career advisors.

A lot of them don't understand the changing nature of work, so can't give the right guidance to students, she said.

"If your career advisor thinks the best place for you is a marketplace that doesn't exist or is diminishing, say hospitality or manufacturing as a career goal, they'll direct a young person into doing some particular training," Katie said.

The young person gets to the end of it and... there's actually no jobs in that field."

The NSW Business Chamber agrees.

The chamber co-wrote part of Youth Action's report into career guidance, which is out on Tuesday. It said it was a "major problem" that career advisors were directing young people into uni, when trades may have more to offer them.

"Students are overwhelmingly pushed toward university, meaning there is an emphasis in school on choosing subjects that will result in a high Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR)," it said.

The job outcomes an apprenticeship or traineeship can deliver are often far better than those following a higher education pathway."

"The issue is that young people are not being effectively informed, engaged and advised about all of their career options so that they are ready to smoothly transition from school to their next stage in life," the chamber said.

High youth unemployment

Katie reckons the more young people learn about their options, the quicker they are to get jobs.

"The longer a young person is unemployed in their early career, the worse off their life expectations are and their health and welfare in the long term," she said.

The national youth unemployment rate is currently 12.8 per cent, but in outback Queensland nearly half of all young people are out of work.

"We haven't seen any increased funding in schools and in career programs to make sure those things are adapting to the new world, and as a result I think we see those unemployment figures continue to be high," Katie said.