It’s become even harder for unemployed Australians to gain entry-level work – and job seekers in some parts of the country “barely stand a chance” of getting their foot in the door, according to new research from Anglicare Australia. Source: SBS News.
The organisation’s latest annual Jobs Availability Snapshot compared the number of people receiving JobSeeker payments with the number of positions with minimal education or experience requirements advertised in August this year.
It found there were 33 people out of work for every entry-level job – an increase on last year’s figure of 26. In 2022, there were 15 job seekers for every entry-level position.
Entry-level jobs accounted for just 10.8 per cent of positions advertised during this year’s sample period.
“The proportion of entry-level jobs has really declined over the decade that we’ve been doing this [snapshot]”, Anglicare Australia’s executive director Kasy Chambers said.
“That makes it really very, very difficult for somebody to get a start or get a new start into the workforce,” she said.
It’s “a particularly difficult situation” for those with extra barriers to work, Ms Chambers said.
Twenty-one of the 33 job seekers vying for each entry-level job were considered to have extra barriers to work – the highest level of competition since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those barriers can include anything from not having tertiary qualifications, being older, taking a break from the workforce to have children, to having a disability, speaking English as a second language, or living in a remote or regional area.
While there aren’t enough entry-level positions to meet demand in any part of the country, the situation is especially dire in the Northern Territory.
There, 65 job seekers are competing for each entry-level position.
Tasmania was the second most challenging place to find entry-level work with 50 job seekers for every vacancy, followed by South Australia with 43.
Ms Chambers noted the national competition for entry-level jobs was likely much higher than Anglicare’s report suggested, given it didn’t include people who were out of work or seeking more hours but ineligible for JobSeeker payments.
FULL STORY
‘Barely stand a chance’: The part of Australia it’s hardest for these job seekers to get work ( By Amy Hall, SBS News)
