Youth Issues

45 Pages·2011·2 MB·English

by  Adrienne Millbank

Department of the
Parhamentary
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Youth Issues
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ISSN 1037-2938
CopyrightCommonwealthofAustralia 1993
Excepttotheextentoftheusespermittedunderthe CopyrightAct1968,nopartofthispublicationmay
bereproducedortransmittedinanyformorbyaIXfmeansincludinginformationstorageandretrieval
syste~withoutthepriorwrittenconsentoftheDepartmentoftheParliamentaryLibrmy, otherthan
byMembersoftheAustralianParliamentinthecourseoftheirofficialduties.
PubliehedbytheDepartmentoftheParliementalyLibrary, 1993
Adrienne MiIlbank
Education and Welfare Group
10 May 1993
Parliamentary
Research Service
Background Paper Number 9 1993
Youth Issues
Telephone: [phone]
Facshnile:062772407
ThispaperhasbeenpreparedforgeneraldistributiontoMembersoftheAustralianParliament.
ReadersoutsidetheParliamentareremindedthatthisianotanAustralianGovernmentdocument, but
a paperpreparedbythe authorandpuhlishedbytheParliamentaryIleaearchServicetocontributeto
considerationoftheissuesbySenatorsandMembers.TheviewsexpressedinthisPaperarethOfJeofthe
authorand do not necessarily reflectthoae ofthe Parliamentary Research Service and are not to be
attributedtotheDepartmentoftheParliamentaryLibnuy.
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
Background '.' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1
Public concern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1
Youth Unemployment 2
Public perceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Government ~d Opposition policies 4
A minimum youth wage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Traineeships 6
Who are the young unemployed? 6
The youth labour market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 7
Income Support ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Public perceptions 8
Government policies and programs 9
Job Search and Newstart Allowances 9
Research : 10
Views ofcommentators 11
Increased Youth Dependency 12
Public perceptions . . . . . . .. 12
Effects on families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 13
Views ofcommentators 13
HomeL¥wnwm 14
Public perceptions . . . . . . . . . .. 14
Government response 14
Extent ofyouth homelessness 14
Current issues and concerns 15
Drugs ' 16
Public perceptions .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 16
Research 17
Tobacco 17
Alcohol 17
Illicit drugs 18
Current issues and concerns 18
Youth Suicide 19
Public perceptions 19
Extent ofyouth suicide, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 19
Causes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 20
Current issues and concerns 21
i
Youth Crime 21
Public perceptions 21
Extent and nature ofyouth crime 23
Characteristics ofyoung offenders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 24
Current issues and concerns 25
Youth Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . •. 26
Views ofcommentators and socialresearchers . . . . . . . . . . . .. 26
Mackay Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 26
Mattingly and Partners 1990 survey 27
ANOP 1990 youth survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 28
Australian Democrats' Youth Poll '92 . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. 28
Youth attitudes to family and work : 28
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 29
Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 31
Appendix:
1992 and 1993 Lists ofPRS Publications
Inclusion:
Readers' Feedback Questionnaire Tear-off
ii
Youth Issues 1
Introduction J
Background
The 1960s and 1970s were decades marked in Australia·as in other
Western countries by relative economic stability and growth but with
significant changes in social values and behaviour. These were
reflected in higher rates ofdivorce and remarriage, and the growth of
single parent, blended and working mother families. The 1980s and
early 1990s have been marked byconsiderable change to the economic
structure, andthewidespreadintroductionofnewtechnologies, as well
as the continuing effects ofthe social changes ofprevious decades.
Inthe changingworldeconomicandpoliticalrelationships ofthe 1980s
Australia has been generally perceived as no longer able to rely on
rural and mineral resources, no longer able to afford to subsidise
manufacturing, and as beingforced to restructure its economic base in
order to compete with more productive and competitive countries
(particularly those developing in SE and NE Asia, as well as a
revitalised Europe). The r~structuring and deregulation that
commencedinthe early1980swiththe aim ofproducinga more skilled
and productive workforce, together with a world-wide economic
recession in the late 1980s, has meant increasing levels of
unemployment, particularly for those persons without the skills to be
utilised by changing industrial requirements. The skilling of the
workforce, productivity reforms including increased and now almost
universal use of new technology such as computers and word
processors and an expanded labour market have virtually eliminated
many traditional 'entry-level'jobs for young people in Australia.
Public concern
These changes have resulted in a situation where young people
entering the labour market in the 1990s are facing a precarious
. economicand employmentfuture. Theirparentsandgrandparents are
concerned about the effects of the social, economic and structural
changes that have occurred over the last twentyyears, and the effects
of the economic recession which began in the 1980s. They are
concerned in particular about their children's and grandchildren's
future. They worry especially about whether they will compete
successfully in school and further studies and training, and whether
they will be able to obtain employment. They worry about whether
theywill cope, or whether theywill turn to drugs, a 'sub-culture' ofthe
streets, and crime.
These concerns are fundamental to all families and inevitably are
reflected in the media, whose reports of such issues and portrayal of
2 Youth Issues
youth 'problems' range from the factual and analyticaL to the more
sensational and emotional. Media reports have both reflected and
reinforced the concerns ofadults and young people, and the issues of
youth unemployment, homelessness and the "future of young people
have been the focus ofa good deal ofattention over the past few years.
In 1992, in particular in the months surrounding the release of the
Carmichael1 and Mayer Reports2 on youth training and core
competency requirements, the Opposition's policy to introduce a
minimum youth wage and the Government's Youth Summit, youth
issues dominated the attention ofallsections ofthe community. From
May onwards, the year was marked by an enormous amount of
coverage ofthe growth ofyouth unemployment, and ofissues such as
youth crime, binge drinking, illicit drug taking and suicide.
This Paper aims to provide an overview of the current major youth
issues ofunemployment and incomesupport, and ofinterrelated social
'problems' such as increased youth dependency, homelessness, drug
abuse, crime and suicide. It attempts to provide information on
current public perceptions of youth issues as reflected by media
coverage over the last couple ofyears;.the actual nature and extent of
youth 'problems' as indicated by research undertaken since 1989, and'
the views ofleading commentators in the area. It aims also to provide
anoverviewofthe attitudes,perceptions, values andpriorities ofyoung
people as revealed through market and socialresearch conductedover
the last four years.
Youth Unemployment
Public perceptions
Obtaining meaningful employment has always been the key issue of
concern to youngAustralians. Increasingly over the past decade, and
in the last couple ofyears in particular the growth and extent ofyouth
unemployment has been a major focus of concern within the general
community. In 1992 general unemployment rates of over eleven per
cent and youth unemployment rates ofover 30 per cent - and over 40
per cent in some areas - were being widely reported. Catherine
Blakers3 has noted that continuingattention on the difficulties facing
young job seekers has seen a change in the image portrayed in the
media of the young unemployed. In the 1990s, they have rarely been
described (as theyhad often beenin previous decades bysome sections
of the media) as lazy and enjoying a work free existence at the
taxpayers' expense. Media reportage around the time of the Youth
Summit in July 1992 described unemployed youth in highly emotive
terms: as being rejected and discarded from society, prevented from
makingthe transition to independent adulthood, taken for granted by
Youth Issues 3
their parents' generation, vulnerable to depression, ill-health,
homelessness, crime, drugs, suicide, and likelyto be livingin poverty4.
In.recent years a general consensus appears to have emerged that
blamingyoungpeople themselves is unproductive, and that high levels
ofyouth unemployment are the result oftechnological and structural
.changes in the economy5.. The effectiveness of these changes in
abolishing 'entry-level' jobs formerly taken by young people is indeed
apparent everywhere: telephones and facsimiles have replaced
telegrams; maintenance requirementshave beenreduced, employment
has declined in manufacturing and in industries such as printing
(formerly a significant employer of teenage males) because of
computerised equipment. Clerical, typing and other office jobs have
disappeared with the introduction of increasingly sophisticated word
processors, photocopiers and computers. Higher entry qualifications
have closed off work in nursing, in banks and in the public service.
It has become more widely understood that the economic recession is
only one reason for the decline in the full-time employment
opportunities for the young, and that this decline is also the result of
changes in employment patterns accompanying rising productivity:
that is, those very factors which are increasingthe productivity ofthe
economyand raising the efficiencyofthe skills base are removingjobs
for the young - especially for unskilled 15 to 19 year olds. Besides
more sophisticated and computerised machinery replacing unskilled
workers, more sophisticatedcorporate management techniques, e.g. in
selection of job applicants, and subcontracting, are also closing off
traditional entry-level openings.
Jobs for youngunskilled fifteen to nineteenyear olds are estimated to
have contracted from 600 000 in 1966 to 240 000 in 1992 because of
technological and productivity advances. Six in ten of those aged
fIfteen to nineteen years were infull-time work in 1966, nowthere are
two in ten. Education participation for this age group has doubled
since the mid 1960s - from one in three to two in three6
•
Anumber ofcommentators have pointed out that the small number of
young people in the labour market (as opposed to being in school-and
higher education) has created an exaggerated impression ofthe extent
of youth unemployment. At the time of the Youth Summit in July
1992, ofthe approximately 1 317 000 fifteen to nineteen year olds in
Australia, 85.7 000 were in full-time education, 240 000 in full-time
employment, and 124 000 (less than ten per cent of the total teenage
population) were lookingfor work7• It has also been pointed out that
manypost-compulsoryage schoolstudents wouldprefertobe working,
and that youth unemployme~tlevels would be much higher if they
enteredthe labourforce. Somecommentatorshave further pointedout
that most long-term unemployment is found in the over 45 age group,
4 Youth Issues
and that the outlook for older unemployed unskilled or semi-skilled
factory workers, especiallyin areas such as Wollongong, PortKembla
and Geelong, is more bleak than that ofunemployed youths.
Unemploymentamongyouthhas howeverremained the focus ofmedia
attention, and is clearly a highly emotive issue among voters. Besides
the natural concern ofparents for their children's future and the well
being ofthe next generation, reasons for this could include a sense of
unease and even guiltthataftera periodofcomparativeprosperity, the
next generation seem to be paying the price of new technology,
structural change and productivity reforms. A fear has been reported
amongst middle class Australians of a growing culture among the
young of chronic unemployment and dependency: of an emerging
underclass with its associations ofdrug addiction, and violent crime9
•
Media reportage ofyouth unemployment last year around the time of
the Youth Summit reflected, and perhaps helped create a climate of
expectationandbeliefinthe communitythatpoliciesshouldandwould
be developed to somehow stimulate the creation ofjobs for the young,
and give more supportand hope to theyoungunemployed. The Prime
Minister was generally praised for the restraint of the Government's
response following the Summit for targeting most ofthe extra $720m
allocated to kickstart the 'Carmichael' national vocational training
reforms and traineeships rather than short term job creationlO A
•
high level of media attention and perhaps community expectation
regarding youth unemployment remained, however, during the
remainder of 1992. This was reflected to some extent in the reaction
to the report of the Senate Standing Committee on Employment
Education and Trainingonthe implications ofsustained high levels of
youth unemployment, tabled in Parliament 16 December 199211
.
While acknowledged for effectively giving expression to the high level
ofconsternationand concern in the community regardingthe plightof
theyoungunemployed andtheirfamilies, thereporthasbeencriticised
for the inadequacy of its recommendations12•
Government and Opposition policies
A minimum youth wage
The Opposition policy ofbringing in a minimum youth wage of$3 to
$3.50 per hour has been supported by several commentator.s as being
based on two entirely arguable propositions: since the compression of .
age-based wage relativities in the 1970s, unskilled youth have been
priced out of the labour market; and being in a low paid job itself
provides valuable training and is preferable to havingnojob at all. In
the words of Frank Devine '...the working kid moves in a milieu far