Nearly 600,000 Young Australians ‘Struggle’ for Employment

A man walks into a Centrelink, part of the Australian government's department of human services where job seekers search for employment, in a Sydney suburb, August 7, 2014. Reuters/Jason Reed

More than 15 per cent of young Australians are under-employed, according to a research. The figure is the highest in almost four decades.

The research, which apparently disclosed the reality of Australia's employment scenario, was conducted by the Brotherhood of St. Laurence. The study discovered that over 300,000 Australian youth manage either part-time jobs or casual employments. Those young Australians, between 16 to 25 years of age, want to have full-time employments or more work. The first time in 1978 when the youth under-employment was recorded in the country, it was 3.1 per cent.

According to Tony Nicholson, if the number of unemployed people in Australia is added to the number of those who are officially under-employed, the number of young people who "are really struggling to get a foothold in the world of work goes up to 580,000." "Over half of the jobs that young people are getting are casual in nature," Nicholson said, "Some work is better work than no work, particularly as it gives some work experience, but it does leave them in pretty tenuous circumstances from week to week, particularly for young people who don't have the support of family and we know that across Australia there's about 40,000 of those."

According to the non-profit organisation that claims to be "working for an Australia free of poverty," Tony Abbott's proposed income cuts may turn out to be "devastating" for several young job-seekers. "The initiatives that are proposed in the budget, I think, carry an unacceptably high risk of harsh, unintended consequences," Nicholson said, "If we're going to make inroads into youth unemployment and under-employment, we need to do much more than just make changes to income support. "We need a much more comprehensive, overarching strategy that reflects the realities of the challenges faced by young people, as they're trying to make the transition from school to work."

The story of 21-year-old Kevin is featured in the official website of the Brotherhood of St Laurence. He works for 10 hours in a week. He moved to Victoria from Western Australia in search of more work. Kevin is yet to find a job. Listen to him in this video: