Youth Unemployment Essay

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Youth unemployment is a notable, prevalent complication in society that is typically attributed to personal misfortune, economic change and lost opportunities (ManpowerGroup, 2012). The drastic upsurge in youth unemployment rates, which presently stand at 12.7%, more than twice the aggregate unemployment rate, originally began when the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) transpired resulting in levels of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) receding along with national revenue, making it a grievous challenge for Australian youth to procure employment (Trading Economics, 2014). As of today, 260,000 young Australians aged 15-24 are unemployed, 100,000 more than prior to the GFC in August of 2008 (Henry, 2014).

There are various levels of inequality that exist to underpin and increase the levels of youth unemployment in 2014.For instance, the increasing variation in educational standards is constantly enlarging the levels of inequity due to selected schools in lower socio-economic areas not being as well resourced or effective as schools in affluent areas. This potentially leads students to a comparatively disadvantaged start to their career, and furthermore creates a lack of, or lower level of, formal qualifications, a paramount element in the obtaining of employment (Pettinger, 2012). Moreover, the lack of skills and experience of youth is contributing to a lack of youth employment and Australian youth are falling victims to the ‘last in, first out’ policy, which inevitably has led to the youth unemployment rate being far greater than the aggregate unemployment rate (Higgins, 2012).

To counteract the high levels of youth unemployment, the Australian government has established two predominate benefits that youth unemployed are eligible for, na...

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...fer of employment within 3 months (European Commission, 2014) increases the amount of youth in the workforce, subsequently increasing economic production levels, which leads to a meaningful increase in economic growth, a key constituent of GDP and GNP.

In closing, the general decreasing in youth welfare benefits justify that the age of entitlement, if there was once one, has already ended (Jericho, 2014). As seen in figure 4 (Whiteford, 2013), there is compelling evidence that strongly indicates the percentage of households with benefits as their main source of income is subsiding overtime, meaning the Australian youth is becoming relatively less dependent on welfare benefits. Strong economic growth has played a huge role in decreasing such reliance of welfare benefits, and with the proposed Youth Guarantee solution, youth unemployment will be further minimised.

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