The Riverina’s youth unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since October but frontline agencies say teenagers are still struggling to find work.
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The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force report shows the rate of unemployed people aged 15 to 24 fell by 0.2 percentage points to 13.9 per cent in June.
The Riverina’s youth unemployment rate has been at or above 14 per cent since October, reaching a 12-month high of 15.2 per cent in March.
The youth unemployment rate for the whole of Regional NSW has been steady at about 12 per cent for more than 12 months, falling slightly in June to 11.9 per cent.
Megan Mulrooney, executive officer at Wagga non-for-profit employment initiative COMPACT, said the Riverina’s youth unemployment rate needed to fall substantially to make a difference.
“Almost 14 per cent is extremely high and, as a community, we need to do more,” she said,
“There needs to be more investment by government in getting young people into work.”
Ms Mulrooney said ‘underemployment’ was also a big issue in the Riverina and it probably was not being picked up by the ABS as it considered just one hour a fortnight as ‘employment’.
“What I am hearing from young people is that there is significant underemployment; lots of little part-time jobs.
“Paying a higher tax on the second or third job really affects your lifestyle.
“You can’t get a loan for a car when you are just working small casual jobs.”
Ms Mulrooney said lot of apprenticeships were going unfilled in the Riverina and she suspected that low wages were causing people to halt training.
Melanie Norris, an area manager for Wagga employment agency Personnel Group, did see some promise in the figures.
“It is good to see we are tipping the other way,” she said.
“We had a very positive month in our youth programs in terms of employment placement and it’s good to see that replicated in employment figures.”
Ms Norris said the Riverina’s youth unemployment rates were similar to the national average for 15 to 19-year-olds who were not in education or training.
She said programs like the federal PaTH internships had helped some teenage job seekers get their foot in the door with a first job.