A huge number of working people, especially young people, are being forced into insecure “survival jobs” according to a new report ‘Part-time purgatory: young and underemployed in Australia’ from the Brotherhood of St Laurence.
The findings show young Australians are experiencing the worst of the insecure work crisis, often working insecure jobs for too little money just to ensure their day-to-day survival, with little prospect of advancement, security or fair pay rises.
The report shows that 260,000 young people are trapped in part-time work despite not being in full-time study.
The report shows the stark reality of employment for young people – with many looking for more hours than they can find and more than 11% of 15-24 year olds looking for a job unable to find one at all.
Over the past four decades the rate of part-time work for young people has quadrupled, and youth underemployment has risen 600 percent.
Quotes attributable to ACTU Assistant Secretary Scott Connolly:
“Young people need good secure jobs so that they can get a good start in life. We are failing them and we need to change the rules so that our kids have the kind of future they deserve.
“We are seeing a generation of Australians grow up with fewer rights and less security than their parents for the first time in our modern history.
“The Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison government has cut a billion dollars from TAFE and skills training, while allowing open rorting of the temporary work visa system by employers who bring in exploited migrant workers on poverty wages.
“The Morrison government has continued the PaTH to nowhere program, tried to expand the racist CDP and spent a fortune trying to persecute job seekers. This program of exploitation and punishment has destroyed the employment opportunities for too many local young people.
“We need to change the rules for young people and make sure that the rights which we have fought for and won in this country are not denied to future generations.”
