Recently I have been thinking about how to get South Australians fired up about youth unemployment.
The data released last week by the Brotherhood of St Laurence identifies the twenty hot spots nationally that have the highest youth unemployment rate. SA had four regions and all four had worse figures in 2018 than 2016, with the Adelaide Northern region continuing to be a “hot spot” region for SA.
As shocking as these figures are they underlie the harsh reality of life and the everyday struggles of young unemployed people trying to make ends meet, find work and maintain hope for the future.
This is not a government problem or a business problem it is everybody’s problem. We must build a State that includes everyone and where young people are not left behind and waiting for the trickle down to provide a solution, or for a work first approach that drives young people into a cycle of low pay, low security and low status jobs.
The Oxford Dictionary word of 2017 was youthquake — the phenomena of social, cultural and political change arising from the actions and influence of young people. Globally and locally this has played out in the marriage equality plebiscite, the post Brexit voter turnout in Britain, the New Zealand general election and last week the March for Our Lives in Washington.
Young people are showing us that they are not the stereotype perpetuated by many, they are not individualistic, uncaring, selfish and apathetic or the “I” generation. My experience in listening to their points of view is that they embrace equality, reward sharing, promote causes and often integrate doing well into their lifestyle. They are self-organised, value transparency and open to solutions from wherever they come, family, business or government. The source is less important than the quality of the action.
With such a strong desire for change I have been left wondering, what is the catalyst for change? What creates the urgency to act and who leads the charge?
These figures should make us angry and driven to action.
So why is this issue not causing our young people to take action?
I wish I had the answer, but maybe this is one that our young people directly impacted by the issue, and struggling to survive and live day to day, can’t answer.
Maybe the not so young should start a new “quake” and see if we can make a real difference for our young people by practically tackling the issue head on with measures like youth employment targets, gig economy strategies, sole trader start-ups, no interest loans for employment costs and tapered financial support. We could ask young unemployed people what would actually help them as individuals. If we really set our minds to becoming the State with the lowest youth unemployment, could we actually do it?
As we embrace a new State agenda of more jobs, lower costs and better services let’s build in an inclusive growth approach that alongside our economic development/investment agenda we emphasise the social value of investing in our young people across all aspects of their education, learning and skills. We need to embrace a model of economic and jobs growth that ensures our young people are contributing to and benefiting from this new future.
Helen Connolly, Commissioner for Children and Young People SA.
Friday 6th April 2018
