Helping the most vulnerable avoid a jobs abyss: Toby Hall

Reform of Australia's training system is vital as young Australians again bear the brunt of an uncertain labour market, Mission Australia CEO Toby Hall writes in The National Times. 

Read extract below:

If you listen to our political leaders, the country’s financial status is anywhere between ‘‘robust good health’’ and ‘‘hell in a handbasket’’ — with the truth no doubt somewhere in the middle.

From my perspective, if Australia has any vulnerability at the moment, it’s what’s happening – or not – in the labour market. In 2011, for the first time since 1992, Australia finished the calendar year with fewer jobs than when it started.

Our participation rate – the number of Australians either in jobs or looking for work – is at its lowest level since April 2007. And according to Roy Morgan Research, Australia’s ‘‘real’’ unemployment rate is 10.3 per cent — not the 5.2 per cent reported by the Bureau of Statistics.

As for youth unemployment, in the past three years the number of jobs held by 15 to 19-year-olds shrank by more than 92,000. Close to 19,000 teenage jobs disappeared in December alone.

As in 2008 when the global financial crisis struck, it seems that young Australians are again bearing the brunt of today’s uncertain labour market. As one of the country’s leading providers of employment services, Mission Australia has seen two definite trends in the past 18 months.

First, an increase in the number of people who in a bustling economy would find plenty of opportunities in lower-skilled jobs, but who are now ‘‘graduating’’ to need more intensive support the longer they spend out of the workforce.

And second, an increase in the number of the most vulnerable, long-term job seekers who have the most significant barriers to finding a job. Turning a ship around takes time, but there are a number of reforms that could help in the long run…

My view is that we need a national custodian to oversee reform of Australia’s entire training system, resulting in a national framework that will build the skills base required for national productivity improvement.

For example, there’s still a lack of integration between the country’s main programs for apprentices and job seekers. We need to provide a single entry point that will lead to greater opportunities for vulnerable job seekers, flexibility to move across programs and more practical support, let alone streamlining of administration and cost savings.

We also need to improve standards for inducting apprentices and trainees – underpinned by more comprehensive individual assessments – so we can better determine a person’s aptitude and consider any non-work issues that might create a barrier to their progress.

Read all of Toby Hall’s article, including his views on improving standards for inducting trainees and apprentices as well as providing incentives to make apprenticeships more attractive to mature job seekers, ‘Helping the most vulnerable avoid a jobs abyss’ in The National Times.