JOBS GO BEGGING
CITY’S YOUNG WORKFORCE DROPS 30%
TOWNSVILLE employers are “screaming out” for young workers as new figures reveal the shock decline of youth employment in the city over the last decade.
Following news of Townsville’s unemployment rate being at the lowest it has been in five years, the number of young people aged 15 to 24 working in Townsville has plummeted nearly 30 per cent since 2009.
CBC Staff Selection research shows that there were 26,900 young people employed in Townsville in August 2009 but only 19,300 in August 2019.
Townsville youth employment agency Allara Learning offers training and certification in business, hospitality and retail, and has experienced the effects of the declining youth participation rate.
State manager Arthur Burchatt said young workers were reluctant to take lower-level jobs and believed they “want it all and want it now”.
“There is still plenty of work out there in the hospitality field but I am still getting employers screaming out,” he said.
“I can speak on behalf of Subway, Red Rooster and Domino’s, and (young people) don’t want to get into work, they want to go straight to manager level.”
Mr Burchatt said it was hard to encourage young people to kickstart their careers by undertaking higher education to upskill and set themselves apart from other jobseekers.
“I only had seven people sign up in the whole of Townsville to The Ville training this year and we had industry-leading bartenders teaching the course,” he said.
“I think Townsville has the opportunity for locals to take advantage of working as employers are investing in their staff, but it is hard to motivate young people to invest in themselves.”
CBC Staff Selection director Sally Mlikota said there were numerous variables to explain the figures gathered by her office, including relocation and the ease of claiming government unemployment benefits.
“I think sadly the youngsters are moving down south for more job opportunities,” she said.
“Also, it is difficult for young people that want to take a two-week temp job because the challenge with casual work is it is hard to negotiate their benefits with Centrelink.”
Mariam Fornah, a sales assistant at Otto’s Market Warrina, has worked since she was 18 and said since she finished school her main focus was to find a job.
Ms Fornah, 24, said when she moved to Townsville in 2016 she struggled to find employment but kept persevering.
“It took me 10 months to find a job but you can’t just stop, you have to keep on looking,” she said.
Ms Fornah said she felt that Gen Z (15 to 24-year-olds) expected to “find their dream job straight out of uni” and lacked a consistent work ethic.
“I think with my generation we feel very entitled and we don’t want to do the odd jobs here and there or do little by little,” she said.