highest youth unemployment in Australia

[Diane]

Heard on the radio yesterday that Adelaide has the highest youth unemployment percentage in Australia - 30% apparently. Not sure what it is in the UK (OH said he might have heard 50%) but for anyone coming over here with older teenagers, bear this figure in mind as it probably means that your kids will have to travel interstate or overseas when the time comes for them to build a career.

 

Great place for families when the kids are younger, but perhaps not so as they spread their wings...

[Misplaced]

Well just looked at the SA Govt figures and the UK figures and for SA it states 14.5% and the UK is 23.5% - not too sure where the radio got the info from Diane.

[Mini2005]

Apparently it's North Adelaide that is 30% but the average figure for Adelaide is 23.4% according to SA Government Workforce Data.

[Diane]

Thanks, it was some minister being interviewed on the radio so he didn't say where he got his figures from, I thought it sounded a bit high!

[Misplaced]

Well that's like saying 1 in 3 and that would be disastrous. Mind you it all depends on how they work the figures out. I worked on a section in the UK Govt once and we had to produce some figures for Minister late on a Friday - the first the results we gave him wasn't what he wanted, in other words they are not the results he wanted. We then had to run the figures to get the 'desired' results and getting home at 7:30 on Friday was not my idea of a good start to the weekend.

[Mini2005]

Government figures don't usually tell the whole story but I don't envy the kids these days wherever they are!

[Diane]

Well that's like saying 1 in 3 and that would be disastrous. Mind you it all depends on how they work the figures out. I worked on a section in the UK Govt once and we had to produce some figures for Minister late on a Friday - the first the results we gave him wasn't what he wanted, in other words they are not the results he wanted. We then had to run the figures to get the 'desired' results and getting home at 7:30 on Friday was not my idea of a good start to the weekend.

 

 

Actually "1 in 3" is what he said first, then went on to say that with 30% Youth Unemployment South Australia was the highest in the country. Depends on how they define "youth" though, and what point they are trying to make! I work in statistics sometimes too and there is a lot of truth in many of the following in the field of data analysis:

[h=6]"IT HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN"...means... I didn't look up the original reference.

 

"A DEFINITE TREND IS EVIDENT"... These data are practically meaningless.

 

"WHILE IT HAS NOT BEEN POSSIBLE TO PROVIDE DEFINITE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS"... An unsuccessful experiment, but I still hope to get it published.

 

"THREE OF THE SAMPLES WERE CHOSEN FOR DETAILED STUDY"... The other results didn't make any sense.

 

"TYPICAL RESULTS ARE SHOWN"... This is the prettiest graph.

 

"THESE RESULTS WILL BE IN A SUBSEQUENT REPORT"... I might get around to this sometime, if pushed/funded.

 

"IN MY EXPERIENCE"... Once "IN CASE AFTER CASE"... Twice "IN A SERIES OF CASES"... Thrice

 

"IT IS BELIEVED THAT"... I think.

 

"IT IS GENERALLY BELIEVED THAT"... A couple of others think so, too.

 

"CORRECT WITHIN AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE"... Wrong.

 

"ACCORD1NG TO STATISTICAL ANALYSIS"... Rumor has it.

 

"A STATISTICALLY-ORIENTED PROJECTION OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THESE FINDINGS"... A wild guess.

 

"A CAREFUL ANALYSIS OF OBTAINABLE DATA"... Three pages of notes were obliterated when I knocked over a glass of beer.

 

"IT IS CLEAR THAT MUCH ADDITIONAL WORK WILL BE REQUIRED BEFORE A COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF THIS PHENOMENON OCCURS"... I don't understand it

 

"AFTER ADDITIONAL STUDY BY MY COLLEAGUES"... They don't understand it either.

 

"THANKS ARE DUE TO JOE BLOTZ FOR ASSISTANCE WITH THE EXPERIMENT AND TO CINDY ADAMS FOR VALUABLE DISCUSSIONS"... Mr. Blotz did the work and Ms. Adams explained to me what it meant.

 

"A HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT AREA FOR EXPLORATORY STUDY"... A totally useless topic selected by my committee.

 

"IT IS HOPED THAT THIS STUDY WILL STIMULATE FURTHER INVESTIGATION IN THIS FIELD"... I quit.[/h]

[Rachiegarlo]

Yes Minister.... I heard it on the radio and it was about 15-19 year olds, basically the large chunk of school leavers every December might have to look a little longer for work, but I see signs in shops all the time for people. They just need to learn that sometimes you have to work, it's not all play.

[The Flinns]

To all those coming over and panicking. We have two son's aged 19 & 20 and have been here just over two years and they both found jobs within weeks of landing here.

 

Our youngest son's first job was as a casual and he quickly found a second job (I think it took him less than a fortnight) and now has a permanent position. Our eldest is still in the same full time government job.

 

I think that it should also be borne in mind that some individuals neither have the capacity or inclination to find work and so will always add to the "unable to find work" statistics.

[jim and adel]

Well just looked at the SA Govt figures ...and for SA it states 14.5%

 

Apparently it's North Adelaide that is 30% but the average figure for Adelaide is 23.4% according to SA Government Workforce Data.

 

Even with the variables that can distort statistics these are very different figures. Also, when counting unemployment, 'youth' has a specific definition which extends well beyond school leavers. If the 30% figure is about school leavers, that's what the minister should have stated, but having met several of the present bunch of ministers I'm not surprised at the vagueness of his remarks.

 

Jim

[Misplaced]

Here's where i found the figures from for SA http://www.workforceinfoservice.sa.gov.au/labourmarketdata

[Guest James]

The truth is it is not easy to get jobs anywhere at the moment but some individuals will. I think it is worse for older people in manyways as with the high minimum wage here they cannot compete with school leavers for low level jobs as they cost too much and i know plenty of older people unemployed long periods now. Also in Australia many immigrants cannot claim benefit so the real figures are somehat higher than they appear. I know all governments do their best to nassage teh figures, what is the point of international conferences except for governments to swop statistic manipulation!

[wizzywozza]

Funny old story this ........... it comes around this time of year, every year. I think I've heard it each year that I've lived here!

[Rachiegarlo]

same, well at least for the last 15 or so.