Adelaide - a city with few job opportunities, subtle racism and a bleak future

[Guest Dion]

For a few weeks now i have been reading various threads on this forum out of personal curiosity and to gauge the employment situation over there. I left Adelaide for Sydney in 99 and although i do miss aspects of it, reading some of your threads/posts reinforces my view that leaving was the right thing to do.

 

I grew up in Adelaide during the 80s and had an idyllic childhood in several inner south eastern suburbs bordering Goodwood Road. Having completed high school and uni, the problem of finding a job reared its ugly head in the mid-late 90s. Dozens of CVs, phone calls later, still no work. Fellow grads also had mixed luck. A few of my highly qualified friends from overseas had to settle for cleaning, security or taxi driving jobs. The jobs market back then was not much better than today - with Adelaide always having the highest unemployment rate on the mainland. SA was always known as the "stagnant" state.

 

Getting fed up i moved to Sydney. I am now close to 40, married with a young family. In terms of lifestyle, Adelaide beats Sydney hands down. Sydney has many of the big city problems Adelaide doesn't. However although the employment situation is also getting more difficult in Sydney, my wife and i have always had work (she has permament full time, myself temp part time). I even have 2 separate jobs on the side for a little more money - something that would have been hard to do in Adelaide. Yes Sydney is more expensive but with hard work it is manageable.

 

I have only visited adelaide once since i left, that was about 4 years ago. Nothing seems to have changed. Even that guy spruiking outside a shop in Rundle Mall was still there almost 12 years later! The anti-development, conservative movement was still firmly in place. A bit earlier on, plans for a city tower were not surprisingly knocked back. The old Le Cornu site in North Adelaide still sat vacant.

 

My wife being from Sydney, loved the place. We considered going back and even bought a house close to Unley High. However after careful soulsearching we decided to stay put in Sydney because of work. We ended up selling.

 

Going back to Adelaide in my view would have also condemned our children to the same fate i had. Happy childhood only to grow up and face a non-existant jobs market, where you have to have private school connections to get on (or be extremely lucky).

 

And for those people with names such as Ali (interesting threads btw), hassan etc you are even one more step behind the 8 ball because of your name and ethnicity. Sad to say it but that is what i have seen happen to people with "foreign" sounding names. Someone else said that employers hire locals first, then Brits and i agree. well after the brits, all other foreigners (especially newer ones) come a distant third.

 

The demographics of Adelaide are also not good, with a growing elderly population, the smallest amount of young people under 15 in Oz and little investment in employment producing areas.

 

If you are one of the lucky ones with a secure job, best of luck to you even though you are still paying 3 times more for the a home then you would have back in the 90s.

 

if you are struggling or only finding casual, temp work that is no way to live life. And consider what Adelaide will be like 10-20 years from now when your children have grown up. Will there be a bright future with lots of employment opportunities there for them?

Edited August 21, 2013 by Dion

[zebedee]

Only been here a year so can't really comment on most of your thoughts, but with regards housing - house prices in the modern world have gone crazy since the 90's all over - it certainly isn't an Adelaide issue. In fact, we've been able to purchase a home, in a lovely country town with a decent amount of space on one salary. We would have had 0 chance of purchasing similar back in the UK South West.

 

Just depends on what you want I guess - coming from Cornwall, I always preferred "stagnant but friendly" to London "fast paced but rude".

 

Interestingly, our children should hopefully be able to choose from UK, Europe, Australia and even NZ if they want to explore work options in the future - I think that's quite a nice gift

 

Also interesting that you seemed to have just created an account to come and be negative about Adelaide without any constructive criticism other than Adelaide is rubbish and Sydney is better.

Edited August 21, 2013 by zebedee

[Anne B]

Wise words Dion. I think you are spot on.

[Guest Dion]

Thanks for the comment. Not rubbishing Adelaide, read my 3rd paragraph carefully. I do however have a gripe with Adelaide's lack of employment opportunities and some other aspects.

[Guest Dion]

Wise words Dion. I think you are spot on.

 

Thank you Anne. Just saying it as i experienced it. Adelaide is great as a child, not so much as an adult trying to support a family. I really do wish it was more dynamic and with better long term prospects. The statistics don't lie.

[zebedee]

It's a smaller city, in a less populated state.....it's like saying there are less jobs in the South West of England compared to the South East. Yeah, smaller cities, less people. I just am not grasping your point at all. Sydney is the probably the last city in Australia I would consider moving too but if my children grow up and head over there looking for work, great. They had a good childhood, in Adelaide (I hope).

Edited August 21, 2013 by zebedee

[Blossom]

I don't think people with the name Ali are going to have problems at all. I have known a few Allison's go by the name of Ali. It actually hadn't even entered my head that they weren't just an Allison.

[adelaidenow]

Going back to Adelaide in my view would have also condemned our children to the same fate i had. Happy childhood only to grow up and face a non-existant jobs market, where you have to have private school connections to get on (or be extremely lucky).

 

Unemployment is 7%. Therefore 93% have work.

 

I don't have the stats at hand, but the minority who are now working went to private school.

 

So, to sum up, the majority of people are working and most of them went to a public school.

 

Not sure your statement has any truth in it TBH.

 

Maybe you are a politician, they try and sound like they are talking sense, when in fact its' rubbish :-)

 

Also do you ahve any stats to back this up, you may be right, but I am not sure.

 

This may be true, but do you have any facts to back it up

 

And for those people with names such as Ali (interesting threads btw), hassan etc you are even one more step behind the 8 ball because of your name and ethnicity. Sad to say it but that is what i have seen happen to people with "foreign" sounding names. Someone else said that employers hire locals first, then Brits and i agree. well after the brits, all other foreigners (especially newer ones) come a distant third.

 

Western Sydney has high unemployment doesnt it?

Edited August 21, 2013 by adelaidenow

[zebedee]

You prompted me into a bit of Googling anyway, and found this, really quite nice:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/australiaandpacific/australia/9775951/Adelaide-right-at-home-in-Australias-invisible-city.html

[spanners]

Yes, I think Adelaide is a stagnant city. I think its introverted and small minded. It probably has the politicians it deserves. However if it was like Melbourne or Sydney then I couldn't afford 10 acres surrounded by beautiful vineyards - I'd be miles out with a dire commute. Adelaide wouldn't be the city of choice if you want a metrosexual lifestyle. If you want suburb life and to live as a dead commuter dreaming of their 2 weeks holiday away from the suburbs then thats much the same if all cities (only the costs vary). However Adelaide is pretty good at offering stunning countryside and affordable housing within easy driving from the city.

 

Adelaide lacks all kinds of employment. I knew my work would suffer dreadfully and indeed it has. There just isn't the requirements for my specialism in a city of a million with no corporate HQs. I adapted. I changed the focus of my work. Maybe that was one of the reasons for moving to Australia - for the change and for adventure both good and bad.

 

As for racism - I'm lucky. The worse I get is being told POMs are snooty and uncaring. I cannot begin to imagine the head banging frustration of always been halted or slowed by ones name, culture or skin colour. We can but hope that this will change. I find Australians' acceptable level of racism (by which I mean what someone would say and still think themselves as not racist) shockingly high but is Adelaide worse that other non major cities? I've lived in numerous rural cities and they are just more ignorant that central major cities.

 

Will my kids live her when they are 18 in 10 years time? I bloody hope not! But then I'd say the same where ever I was living. I want my kids to spread their own wings and live where ever they choose. I figure if an 18 year old can afford a car they they can afford to leave home (on a bicycle).

 

I'm probably rambling a bit and not being particularly cohesive but in essence you live where you choose to live. I used to live in rural Somerset and work in central London - it gave me the best of both worlds. Now, here, young kids mean I can't live here and work in Melbourne or Sydney so something had to be dropped and for me it was modern city life that went. BUT I gained an easier mellower lifestyle.

[adelaidenow]

BUT I gained an easier mellower lifestyle.

 

Isn't that what 90% of people want?

[Guest rooney74]

Hi Dion

 

I think the housing issue just isn't a problem here in Adelaide , prices have shot up dramatically in most countries.

 

Me and my wife were talking at the weekend about moving on from Adelaide to Sydney in the New year due to work , so thank you for your post it's nice to hear from somebody who has lived here and is not looking at the issue through rose tinted glasses..

 

Thanks

Anthony

[Guest Dion]

Hi Dion

 

I think the housing issue just isn't a problem here in Adelaide , prices have shot up dramatically in most countries.

 

Me and my wife were talking at the weekend about moving on from Adelaide to Sydney in the New year due to work , so thank you for your post it's nice to hear from somebody who has lived here and is not looking at the issue through rose tinted glasses..

 

Thanks

Anthony

 

You're welcome Anthony. I'm glad there are several people that haven't gone on an instant offensive against me!

 

Sydney does have major issues but if you settle in a reasonable area it is okay. The jobs market is tightening here as well but not as badly as Adelaide. My advice would be to come out and stay for a while, and see how things go. I would also recommend to new arrivals to go try their luck (in terms of work) in Perth, Brisbane or Melbourne first, then Sydney and to put Adelaide last on the list.

 

Mr or Mrs Adelaide Now. You wouldn't happen to work for a parochial newspaper would you?

 

Here are the facts from your very own tabloid:

 

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/south-australian-unemployment-rate-surges-up-to-71-per-cent-from-61-per-cent/comments-fni6uma6-1226693467069

 

Take a look at the comments, they echo pretty much what i have said.

 

Wiki states some very disturbing facts about Adelaide's employment situation, although the source cannot be verified:

 

There are 466,829 employed people in Adelaide, with 62.3% full-time and 35.1% part-time. In recent years there has been a growing trend towards part-time (which includes casual) employment, increasing from 11.6% of the workplace in 1991, to over a third today.^{[citation needed]}

If even close to the truth, these are disturbing as less than half the population is employed, with 1/3 part time/casual.

 

Western Sydney does have a high rate of unemployment but alone it has twice the population of Adelaide.

[Guest BurgessFamily]

Stats don't always add up. I remember being out of work for 6 months in the UK (many years ago). I was never unemployed (as I hadn't been out of work long enough, or worked long enough...something like that). Anyhow, I was not on unemployment benefit, but job seekers allowance - therefore not classed as unemployed!!

 

They'll always be jobs in Adelaide. There's always Holdens, and we have many large mining projects just around the corner. Adelaide is on the brink, and has been for the past 4/5 years I have been here. Just waiting for it to take off.

[zebedee]

I don't think anyone is on the offensive, you've made some fairly strong observations - it's quite refreshing discussion and makes a nice change from the "we are moving to Port Noarlunga" threads.

 

I am one of a number of IT people who came out last year and between us, we've all done pretty well job wise. State sponsored Visa for SA so technically I couldn't really look elsewhere other than Adelaide (IT jobs in the state being few and far between). I was told that there is a bit of a brain drain from Adelaide to the bigger cities - so people moving on creates opportunities for others.

 

I'd go mad if I couldn't walk into the countryside, in fact, a year of living in the city has been enough for me - hence the move just out of the city.

 

But then again, we did consider Canberra.......

Edited August 21, 2013 by zebedee

[ian mc]

Stats don't always add up. I remember being out of work for 6 months in the UK (many years ago). I was never unemployed (as I hadn't been out of work long enough, or worked long enough...something like that). Anyhow, I was not on unemployment benefit, but job seekers allowance - therefore not classed as unemployed!!

 

They'll always be jobs in Adelaide. There's always Holdens, and we have many large mining projects just around the corner. Adelaide is on the brink, and has been for the past 4/5 years I have been here. Just waiting for it to take off.

 

I have been here 16 years and in all that time Adelaide has been on the brink, And its never taken off and don't think it ever will.

[adelaidenow]

For the record I don't work for the paper. or any part of the media or political party. I just like to get both sides of a story so...

 

 

There are 466,829 employed people in Adelaide, with 62.3% full-time and 35.1% part-time. In recent years there has been a growing trend towards part-time (which includes casual) employment, increasing from 11.6% of the workplace in 1991, to over a third today

 

This is the same in all cities, and was the same in UK (when I left 10 years ago), more and more part time work. Can you post the NSW stats too? Are they vastly different?

 

I would love to live in Sydney in a nice area, on the harbour, but it's one of the most expensive places in the world. I think Sydney is in the top 10 of most expensive cities worldwide, whereas Adelaide is the number one most livable in Australia.

 

I get your points and there is some truth in them, but your extremism is not accurate and paints a false picture to people looking at coming here IMO.

 

Out of interest, what made you come to this site and post your views?

 

Cheers

[star123]

Well kinda agree, since we been here my oh been in and out of work, nothin on the horizon and we came here to SA to give our children more opportunities but how things are now for us, it seems pretty bleak, so we leaving SA and heading to another state where we hope employment and opportunities are better for us as a family, that's why we made the big decision to migrate in the first place and SA is not doing it for us by a long shot, but at the end of the day what suits one does not always suit the other everyone has different expectations but work here is non existant in my husbands line of work

[sueoc]

I have been here 16 years and in all that time Adelaide has been on the brink, And its never taken off and don't think it ever will.

Hahaha!:smile:Love it!Too true Ian!

[Diane]

I think Adelaide is a great place to bring up a family - they can have the sort of childhood a lot of us remember from the 70s, which is kind of nice.

 

But I am quite happy for my kids to leave Adelaide and try somewhere else (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, or London) after they've had the advantages of a great childhood and good, cheap education (even the best private schools here are probably a lot cheaper than those in NSW).

 

For someone looking to build a career, or have plenty of choice of work and jobs, Adelaide probably isn't going to offer that, but as I say, it's a great place to bring up a family!

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

whatever.

Edited August 21, 2013 by Adelaide_bound
Grrrrrrrr

[Diane]

They'll always be jobs in Adelaide. There's always Holdens, and we have many large mining projects just around the corner.

 

You're sure about that?! Heard what's happening to Fords? Heard what happened to Mitsubishi here?

[Anne B]

You're sure about that?! Heard what's happening to Fords? Heard what happened to Mitsubishi here?

 

I assumed that BurgessFamily was being slightly sarcastic!

[Guest Nixipixi82]

I'm sure there will be opportunities, it just depends what your skills are, anywhere in the world is the same. I'm from Cornwall and moved to London for work and had to change my career path slightly. It's what happens, adapt or moan. I hear now that my field (environmental) is growing in the South west now, bit late for me now i'm moving to Adelaide!

I wouldn't want to live somewhere like London again, and Perth, Brissy and Sydney are all pretty close to it. If i can't find a job in my field, i'll try something else. If you want a certain lifestyle, you will adapt and make it work for you :-)

None of these negative vibes will make me think any differently. Life is what you make it, and I have and will continue to make it better.

[Rabeah]

Damn right Dion! But migrants have to see the whole picture to get this right.

Though Sydney (one of the most beautiful cities in the world for me) would be the last place in Australia I'd move to, because nearly everyone wants to go there!

That's the reason why Sydney is ridiculous expensive (extensive growing population push up prices). I've enough relatives in Sydney and want me and my hubby to come over after our 2 years state sponsorship time is served. No thanks, is my reply. No affordable housing there, even in Blacktown - the far off western outskirts of the city - a new house is about 800,000 bucks!!! Then commute in a lame train system continuous under repair, a car park in the inner city unaffordable!

In Sydney families usually cannot have the same life style like in Adelaide without 2 fulltime jobs (childcare is also too expensive).

Perth is also struggling at the moment, many high-paid jobs are gone due to the stagnation in mining...

Whereas Adelaide is very 'special' in terms of securing work and holding the same job (this is much easier in Sydney). Dion is right with his opinion, but everyone has to weigh up advantages and disadvantages.

It's good to have this great forum with all different opinions!