The Albanese Government is set to tap into the country’s unemployed, particularly disengaged youth and older women, to fill just under two million new jobs over the next decade. Source: News.com.au.
Federal Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth will outline the Government’s plans to navigate critical workforce transitions in the care economy, renewable energy and other developing sectors at the National Employment Services Association’s national conference today.
The address, which will focus on the nation’s employment services system, aims to lay down Labor’s plan to reconnect unemployed Australians with the workforce.
Despite a historically tight labour market, with the unemployment rate sitting at 4.2 per cent, Ms Rishworth believes “there are still too many who are not gaining the economic and social benefits that employment brings”.
“We know that young people who are not engaged in education, training or paid employment by the age of 24 are most at risk of experiencing future long-term unemployment,” she is expected to say.
“We know we face an ongoing challenge around older women becoming disconnected from the labour market – in particular those who leave the workforce temporarily to care for an elderly parent, who then struggle to regain employment once their caring role ceases.”
Ms Rishworth is expected to cite an Australian Institute of Family study that found one in three Australians under 24 from low socio-economic backgrounds are not in education, employment or training.
That is compared to one in 15 from the highest socio-economic brackets.
Ms Rishworth will also address the “significant economic shift” spurred on by the energy transition, advances in technology and the care economy.
“Total employment in Australia is projected to grow by around 950,000 people or 6.6 per cent over the next five years, with nearly an extra two million people in jobs over the next 10 years, reaching 16.3 million employed people by 2034,” she is expected to say.
In March, there were 329,600 vacant jobs and just over 600,000 unemployed, according to the Australian Industry Group.
FULL STORY
‘Extra two million people in jobs’: Government to tap disengaged Aussies for job growth (News.com.au)
