Kids are smarter but work elusive

YOUNG Australians are now better educated but half of 25year-olds cannot find a fulltime job, a new study reveals.

Three in five young adults have post-school qualifications but it is becoming harder to find full-time work of at least 35 hours a week, research from the Foundation for Young Australians has found.

The New Work Reality report followed 14,000 young people over a decade and exposed an increasing issue — the number of young people working full-time hours in casual jobs has doubled over two decades.

FYA chief executive Jan Owen said it was a “stark reality” that young people were better educated and more invested in their education but “that golden ticket has not led to full-time work for 50 per cent of 25-year-olds right now”.

“That one experience, that one degree is clearly very much not the golden ticket,” Ms Owen said.

Three in four young people did not believe they had the relevant experience for the job market, the study found.

A negative mindset was also a problem — being optimistic was found to accelerate the transition to full-time work by two months compared with those who were unhappy or lacked confidence.

Barriers to full-time work were also identified, including a lack of jobs, of appropriate education, career management and not enough experience.

Meanwhile, the average transition time from education to work was almost five years, compared with one year in 1986 — that reduced to 2.6 years omitting travel, gap years and part-time education.

Ms Owen said it was “a very dire situation” with work prospects having economic and social impacts.

“On the other side, it’s great to know there are four things that can accelerate a transition to work,” she said.

Teaching enterprise skills could accelerate getting a full time job by 17 months, combining study and work by 12 months, finding employment in areas with strong future prospects by five months, and having an optimistic mindset sped up the process by two months.