One quarter of young Australians not in full-time study or work according to new report

Updated

More young Australians are completing Year 12 but over a quarter are not in full-time work or study after school, according to a new report.

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Reform Council's latest reports on education and skills show that not all young people are making a smooth transition from school to study or employment.

The council's deputy chairman, Professor Greg Craven, says more than 27 per cent of Australians aged 17-24 were not in full-time study or work in 2011.

"We've found that more than a quarter of young people are still not fully engaged in work or study after they leave school and this is largely due to the fall in full-time employment," Professor Craven said.

The outcomes are worse for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, where more than 40 per cent of young people are not earning or learning.

"Those people may be doing some study, but not enough to register," Professor Craven said.

"They may be engaged in some work or a combination of both [or] they may be in gap years, but it is of course a concern that that number of people are not participating in the national economy or the education system."

Troy Greelish, 19, finished Year 12 and did a TAFE hospitality course but has been out of work for a year.

"Because I have no experience, I can't really get into anywhere because you need experience to get a job and you need a job to get experience," he said.

"Because of that loop, it's difficult to just get into it."

The Australian Industry Group's Megan Lilly says businesses are finding young people are not up to doing the jobs available.

"A lot of young people really don't have sufficient skills and if employers have got a couple of candidates and some people have the skills and are work-ready and others don't, then the choices get made accordingly," she said.

Not in full-time work or study, 17 to 24 State/territory Per cent in 2011 New South Wales 26.7 Victoria 24.3 Queensland 30.9 Western Australia 25.9 South Australia 30.5 Tasmania 33.4 ACT 16.7 Northern Territory 42.3 (National) 27.3



"So we really need the system to support these young people."

Sally James from the Brotherhood of St Laurence runs the Youth Transitions program in Melbourne's outer suburbs.

Her organisation is seeing about 100 young people without a job, but she says it is not from a lack of trying.

"A majority of young people want to work but haven't been able to get that opportunity because they just don't have those skills, networks or work experience to get that first job," she said.

Ms James warns that there is a risk of a lost generation.

"As we know, the evidence tells us the longer you're out of the labour market, the harder it is to get back into it again," she said.

"And so these young people are at risk of just being locked out of the labour market totally."

Increase in young Australians finishing Year 12

The council says there has been little or no improvement in literacy and numeracy rates in high schools and outcomes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds are still poor.

But Professor Craven says 85 per cent of young people completed Year 12 in 2011, up from 82.8 per cent in 2006.

Numeracy and literacy in the NT

Falling school attendance rates are contributing to the Northern Territory having the lowest and literacy numeracy rates in the country, according to the COAG report.

"If your parents finished school, there is a much higher likelihood that you yourself will perform better at school," he said.

"If your parents finish school there's a much higher likelihood that they would get further training and education, and therefore you would get further education and training."

The report found that there have also been strong signs of improvement in the early schooling years.

Professor Craven said "governments have worked to give Australian children the best possible start in the early years through COAG's commitment to universal access to preschool".

He said the benefits of the early childhood reforms translate into better results in primary and high schools.

"We can see, for example, improved results in literacy among the group of children who are now entering years like Year Three, who were the first beneficiaries of those COAG reforms and we can expect further improvements as time goes on," Professor Craven said.

Topics: work, secondary-schools, education, australia

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