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ARCHIVED: Youth Facts and Stats

Employment

2007, 2008

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Labour force status: Persons aged 15–19 and whether attending full-time education (annual average 2005)


 Units Not attending full-time education Attending full-time education Total
Employed '000 333.1 385.0 718.2
– full-time '000 227.5 17.4 244.9
– part-time '000 105.7 367.6 473.3
Unemployed '000 57.7 71.0 128.7
– looking for full-time work '000 50.6 11.7 62.3
– looking for part-time work '000 7.1 59.3 66.4
Unemployment rate % 14.7 15.6 15.2
Labour force participation rate % 87.2 48.1 60.6
Unemployment to population ratio % 12.8 7.5 9.2
– looking for full time work % 11.3 1.2 4.5

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006, Labour statistics in brief, Australia, 2006, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, viewed 5/12/06.

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New South Wales Young People and Work Survey 2005

The NSW Office of Industrial Relations and Work Cover NSW last year commissioned the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training (acirrt) to undertake 'a comprehensive survey of young people and work – their attitudes, experiences and real levels of awareness on key industrial issues'. The resulting Young People and Work Survey 2005 surveyed 5,262 young people (61.1% female) aged between 12 and 25 years from metropolitan, rural and regional areas of NSW.

Some findings from the survey:

General findings

  • 71.7 % of respondents were in some form of paid employment.
  • 77.9% of working respondents were casual workers.
  • 60% of working respondents worked in the retail or restaurant/hospitality industries.
  • 9.1% of workers were undertaking traineeships or apprenticeships.
  • 8% of workers were employed in white-collar jobs.
  • 3 in 4 workers reported working regular days and hours.
  • 83.7% of working respondents also studied.

Rights and conditions

  • 1 in 4 workers 'were unable to correctly identify whether they were casual or ongoing employees'.
  • 1 in 4 workers did not receive pay slips; these workers and workers who did not receive written information about their pay and conditions were twice as likely as other workers to undertake unpaid overtime.
  • Over 50% of workers surveyed 'could not identify which award or agreement they were covered by'.

Unpaid work

  • 1 in 7 casual workers reported being asked to work unpaid overtime.
  • 12% of respondents (including 1 in 8 retail and restaurant/hospitality workers) reported doing unpaid trial work before commencing their current job.
  • 52% of unpaid trials lasted for over a day, while 1 in 6 lasted over a week.

Bullying

  • 23% of respondents had been bullied by someone in their workplace, including customers. The likelihood of experiencing bullying increased with age, with 31% of 21–25-year-olds reporting experiences of bullying. Female workers were also more likely to be bullied than their male counterparts.

Safety

  • 1 in 3 respondents reported being injured in the workplace.
  • 50% of respondents reported feeling 'in some danger' at work; 8.7% feared workplace injuries 'often' or 'very often'.

Finding help

  • Approximately half of the working respondents surveyed said that they would approach their boss if they felt they had been 'ripped off' at work, while 18.5% of respondents said that they would 'leave and find a new job' and 4.1% would 'do nothing'.
  • 64.6% of respondents said that they would approach their employer for information on their legal rights, 27.6% would approach the government and 20.6% would approach a trade union.

NSW Department of Commerce, Office of Industrial Relations: http://www.industrialrelations.nsw.gov.au

Sources:
NSW Department of Commerce, Office of Industrial Relations 2005, Young People and Work Survey 2005: Summary & key findings [viewed 5/12/2006].
NSW Department of Commerce, Office of Industrial Relations 2005, Further statistics from the youth and work survey, viewed 5/12/2006].
Sydney Morning Herald, 29/4/06, p.31.

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Fast food industry: experiences and problems of young workers (2004)

Job Watch, the Victorian employment rights legal centre, has completed a major research study into the experiences and problems of young workers in the fast food industry.The study is based on the findings of a survey of 599 young people from 278 fast food outlets across 146 suburbs in metropolitan and country Victoria.

Major areas of concern identified by the study include occupational health and safety, workplace violence and bullying, child employment permits, discrimination, non-payment of wages, and lack of knowledge of legal entitlements.

Some of the key findings of the study:

  • 10% of young workers were not being paid the legal minimum.
  • Over 43% of respondents did not know whether they were receiving the legal minimum rate of pay.
  • Over 35% experienced some form of workplace violence or bullying, the main forms experienced being verbal harassment (29.7%), psychological harassment (17.5%), and sexual harassment and assault (12.7%).
  • Perpetrators of workplace violence or bullying were people in positions of authority in the workplace (45.8%), work colleagues (30.3%) and customers (20.4%).
  • Of the respondents who had experienced some form of workplace violence or bullying 68% did not report incidents to someone at the workplace.
  • 53% of respondents stated that they had worked longer than 8 hours in a shift and 32% of those respondents had worked shifts of 11 hours or more.
  • 26% experienced a large cut in their regular hours of work and of those respondents an estimated 30% stated they were not provided with any reason for the reduction, while 13.2% said it was age-related.
  • Nearly 19% experienced some form of discrimination at the workplace (the main forms being discrimination on grounds of age (7.8%), physical features (7.5%), sex (6.7%), and personal association (4.6%).
  • A significant proportion of respondents reported not receiving occupational health and safety training or instruction in relation to six basic areas, including identifying potential hazards or risks in the workplace (16.1%), safe work practices (17.8%), whether their workplace had an occupational health and safety representative and who that person was (30.6%).
  • Nearly one third of respondents were not supervised or checked regularly to make sure that health and safety instructions were being followed and that they were not exposed to any risks.

Source: Job Watch 2004, Fast food industry: A research study of the experiences and problems of young workers, Job Watch, Melbourne.

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Casual employment, 2000

Percentage of casual workers who are aged under 25: 41%

Casual and continuing workers by age, June 2000:


 Casual employees Continuing employees
Age Number ('000) % of all casual Number ('000) % of all casual
15–19 378.0 23.7 219.8 3.7
20–24 275.9 17.3 639.9 10.8


Casual employment compared with the unemployment rate, by age, June 2000:



Source: Parliamentary Library 2004, Research Note No. 53, 24 May 2004, Department of Parliamentary Services, Canberra, p.2., Parliamentary Library's Research Notes web page.

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Self-employment, 1996 and 2001

Proportion of young people aged 15–24 in 2001 who were owner-managers: 3.3%
Proportion of all owner-managers of incorporated enterprises aged 15–24: 1.1%
Proportion of all owner-managers of unincorporated enterprises aged 15–24: 4.2%
Proportion of young owners of incorporated businesses who were male: over 80%
Proportion of young owners of unincorporated businesses who were male: 75%

Proportion of young people's businesses turning over less than $1,000 a month in 1996: about 50%
Proportion turning over more than $3,000 a month: 28%

Proportion working less than 30 hours a week on their business in 1996: 28%

Number of small business operators aged under 30 in June 2001: 169,900
(10.6% of all small business operators)
… in November 1996: 138,600

Self-employment by age and gender, November 2001:

Forms of employment
('000s)		 Owner manager
of incorporated
enterprises		 Owner manager of
unincorporated
enterprises		 Total self-
employed		 Total employed
persons


15–19 yrs		 Females n.a. 2.2 2.3 329.3
Males n.a. 6.0 6.4 327.3
Total n.a. 8.2 8.8 656.6


20–24 yrs		 Females 1.1 12.7 13.8 478.6
Males 5.4 26.9 32.3 521.5
Total 6.4 39.6 46.0 1,000.1

Source: Department of Family and Community Services 2003, Youth Entrepreneurship: Scoping Paper, DFACS, Canberra [viewed 5/12/2006]. Back to top

Employment of 15–19-year-olds, 2004

Young people aged 15–19 in employment, showing comparative figures for 1994, 1999, 2003 and 2004:


 Employed full time '000 Employed '000

Males Females Total Males Females Total
Mar-94 145.6 82.5 228.1 282.9 272.5 555.4
Mar-99 143.8 80.1 223.8 316.8 318.8 635.6
Mar-03 145.0 82.8 227.8 333.3 349.9 683.2
Mar-04 157.1 83.6 240.7 360.3 360.6 720.8

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Labour Force Australia Spreadsheets, cat. No. 6202.0.55.001, ABS, Canberra, viewed 5/12/2006]. Back to top

Labour force participation 2002–2003

Percentage of 15–19-year-olds in the labour force 2002–2003:
… Males: 58.4%
… Females: 60.7%

Percentage of 20–24-year-olds in the labour force 2002–03:
… Males: 85.1%
… Females: 77.5%

Number of 15–19-year-olds in full-time or part-time employment 2002–03: 684,500
… Full time: 225,500
… Part time: 459,000

Number of 20–24-year-olds in full-time or part-time employment 2002–03: 1,042,500
… Full time: 720,400
… Part time: 322,100

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Year Book Australia 2004, cat. no. 1301.0, ABS, Canberra, Labour chapter [viewed 5/12/2006].

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Employed young people's occupations, 2002–2003

As a percentage of each age group's workforce:
Managers and administrators –
… 15–19: 0.4%
… 20–24: 1.6%

Professionals –
… 15–19: 1.6%
… 20–24: 13.1%

Associate professionals –
… 15–19: 2.9%
… 20–24: 8.2%

Tradespeople and related workers –
… 15–19: 12.2%
… 20–24: 15.8%

Advanced clerical and service workers –
… 15–19: 0.9%
… 20–24: 3.6%

Intermediate clerical, sales and service workers –
… 15–19: 16.0%
… 20–24: 24.5%

Intermediate production and transport workers –
… 15–19: 7.0%
… 20–24: 7.1%

Elementary clerical, sales and service workers –
… 15–19: 40.9%
… 20–24: 16.1%

Labourers and related workers:
… 15–19: 17.9%
… 20–24: 10.1%

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Year Book Australia 2004, cat. no. 1301.0, ABS, Canberra, Labour chapter [viewed 5/12/2006].

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Job mobility, 2001–2002

Percentage of young people who changed jobs by changing employer, business or locality in the year to February 2002:
… 15–19-year-olds: 19.3%
… 20–24-year-olds: 25.8%

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Year Book Australia 2004, cat. no. 1301.0, ABS, Canberra, viewed 19 January 2005, Labour chapter.

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Graduates and employment, 2003

Percentage of new graduates finding a full-time job within four months of graduating: 80.9%
Average starting salary for male graduates aged under 25: $38,000
Average starting salary for female graduates aged under 25: $36,300

While the percentage of graduates who found full-time jobs in 2003 fell slightly from the percentage in 2002, the number of graduate jobs rose from 31,715 in 2002 to 34,999 in 2003.

In 2003, 34% of physics graduates and 64% of performing arts graduates did not find full-time work within four months of graduating.

More than 90% of graduates in nursing, dentistry and pharmacy found a job within four months.

Source: Australian, 17/12/03, p.3, citing a Graduate Destination Survey conducted by the Graduate Careers Council of Australia. A summary of the Survey is available at GradStats 2003 [viewed 5/12/2006].

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Young Australians and employment, 2003

Percentage of young people (15-19) in full-time study or employment, May 2003: 85%
...in full-time employment, May 2003: 16%

Decline since 1995 in full-time jobs for:
teenagers (15-19): 6.9%
young adults (20-24): 15.2%

Rate of unemployment of 15- to 24-year-olds compared to adults: x 2.7

The latest in a series of reports by the Dusseldorp Skills Forum on the learning and employment circumstances of young Australians states that while employment prospects for early school leavers may have improved over the medium term during the late 1990s, 28% of early leavers and 11% of school completers 'still experience a significantly troubled transition'.

Source: Curtain, R. 2003, How young people are faring: Key indicators 2003 Dusseldorp Skills Forum.

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TAFE graduates and module completers finding employment, 2002

Percentage of TAFE students who were employed after completing their training:
74% of graduates
65% of module completers

Percentage who had not been employed before their training but found work after it:
42% of graduates
29% of module completers

Percentage who were employed in their first full-time job:
24% of graduates
17% of module completers

Percentage of TAFE graduates employed or in further study after their training: 92%

Percentage of finishing students reporting that their training was highly or somewhat relevant to their current job:
74% of graduates
55% of module completers

Percentage of finishing students satisfied with the overall quality of their TAFE training:
82% of graduates
76% of module completers

Source: National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 2003 Student Outcomes Survey [viewed 5/12/2006].

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