More than One in Three Unemployed are Under 25

April 3 2002 - More than a third (39%) of the country's unemployed are aged between 15 and 24, according to recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Exactly one-half (50%) of unemployed 15-19 year-olds were looking for full-time work - compared with 76% of unemployed people of all ages.

The most frequent difficulty in gaining employment cited by unemployed people aged 15-24 was insufficient work experience (18%). Other difficulties referred to were 'no vacancies at all' (cited by 15% of those aged 15-19 and 10% of those aged 20-24) and 'lacked the necessary skills/education' (11% and 13% respectively).

Among 613,000 unemployed people aged 15 and over in July 2001, the main difficulties referred to trying to find work were:

* being considered too young or too old by employers (12%);
* too many applicants for the jobs available (12%);
* insufficient work experience (12%); and
* no vacancies at all (11%).

75% of unemployed people searching for full-time jobs were registered with Centrelink. This compares with just 22% of unemployed people looking for part-time jobs.

24% of all unemployed people were 'long-term unemployed'- defined as being unemployed for a year or longer. Most of these (89%) were looking for full-time jobs, but 90% had not received any job offers during the previous 12 months. A fifth of the long-term unemployed reported that being considered too young or too old was the main barrier to finding employment.

75% of the 613,000 unemployed people had their highest educational qualifications at Year 12 level or below. People with their highest qualification at Year 10 or below had been unemployed for an average of 64 weeks. This compared with 31 weeks for those with Bachelor degree or above. ,/p>

Further details can be found in Job Search Experience of Unemployed Persons, Australia, July 2001 (Cat. No. 6222.0).

• More Australian Job Market Articles