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

[Blossom]

I once went into a shop in china town in Sydney. There were two signs up in the window, one about a full time position available at the shop, another for a part time one. I went in and said I would like to apply for a job. 'Which one?' They asked. 'The full time one'. 'Ohhhh, sorry, the full time job is gone'. So I reply 'ok, the part time one'. 'Ohhhh, that one has gone as well'. A week later both signs were still in the window.

[jim and adel]

Greater Adelaide is the same size as greater Manchester (about). Sure it has less people, but it certainly isn't a small city.

 

A key difference is the lack of population surrounding Adelaide. Taking the distance between Adelaide and Murray Bridge (just over 70k), in that radius around Manchester there are 11 million people. So, as well as Manchester's population, there's the equivalent of a Sydney and Melbourne (and a Brisbane chucked in for good measure) all within commuting distance. Such a mass of people gives a place its buzz and sense of opportunity (on the downside it also means 'big city' problems).

 

If Manchester was plonked into the middle of nowhere it would be a fairer comparison with Adelaide.

[Blossom]

No matter how many people, my point was, size wise, it is not a small city.

[jim and adel]

No matter how many people, my point was, size wise, it is not a small city.

 

If it's not about how many people there are, on what basis are you saying it's not a small city? By 'size wise' do you mean geography? It's certainly spread out!

 

It's seen as a small city by most Australians; as is often pointed out, it's usually regarded as a big country town more than as a city. In Federal government plans it's described as a small city, in Adelaide City Council plans it's described as a small city and in the latest SA government development plan (updated just last month) it states: 'Adelaide is one of the great small cities of the world ...'

[Guest AliinAus]

To all those saying "oh, no racism where I work" and "work is easy to get".... how about getting Ali an interview? Let's see a few people putting their money where their mouth is! He's an experienced, educated guy who I'm sure would be a great asset to any firm he works for. Unfortunately both firms I work for are really small, and struggling in the current economic climate, but those of you who say there are loads of people with non-english names working with you must work for sizeable companies....

 

It's not really that easy though is it - because the majority of us aren't in a position to hire people but yet could still stand by that we work in a non discriminatory environment.

[Rabeah]

In Adelaide there is no subtle racism in my opinion, there's a lack of job opportunities which is the main problem.

That migrants don't get proper jobs you can also see in Europe now, where for example high qualified Spanish migrants move elsewhere in the European Union and some of them get only work offers at McDonalds or jobs as waiters.

That phenomena leads me to the point of believing that more migrants are coming here than real jobs are available for all of us.

In my opinion it's rubbish to think that a higher population growth in Adelaide (like the 30 years population plan) will automatically create more jobs.

The other way round seems to be true. A demand for sth. implies jobs.

The main issue is the weak Infrastructure in SA, when I look to Melbourne with its highways, trams, the biggest port of Australia where most of shipments take place, high density of industrial facilities etc.

South Australia should attract more companies to settle here which would create more jobs.

[Guest davel]

 

IMHO it's about time the Department of Immigration separated metro Adelaide from rural SA in terms of points. Many jobs may well be needed in rural areas, but not in metro areas, and the majority of British migrants that come still don't really want to go and live somewhere really rural

 

I doubt if those outside of metro Adelaide would appreciate that comment.

 

I asked a South Australian business man, "what can SA offer that will make people want to come to SA" and he replied "the same as SA offers it's own people not to relocate interstate".

 

Therein, lays the problem.

[Guest BurgessFamily]

The only racism I have witnessed has been towards Aborigines, targeting their supposed lack of 'ambition' to anything none-alcoholic. It's sad when people get bitter towards fellow human beings.

[Guest Kennymclachlan]

And Adelaide has just come out as number 5 in the world as best cities to live....seems the rest of the world doesn't really agree with Dion's view!

[Rabeah]

And Adelaide has just come out as number 5 in the world as best cities to live....seems the rest of the world doesn't really agree with Dion's view!

 

Forget that suryey! It's manipulated and not relating to us as migrants.

[Guest BurgessFamily]

And Adelaide has just come out as number 5 in the world as best cities to live....seems the rest of the world doesn't really agree with Dion's view!

 

"The liveability ranking considers that any city with a rating of 80 or more will have few, if any, challenges to living standards"

[jim and adel]

And Adelaide has just come out as number 5 in the world as best cities to live....seems the rest of the world doesn't really agree with Dion's view!

 

No it hasn't. It's a 'liveable' survey, nothing to do with 'best' (the 'best' cities tend to be crowded, large and on the wishlist for terrorists which dents their scores). Even the most die hard Adelaide supported would be hard-put to make the 'best' case! (Someone's now bound to try ...)

[Guest Cadas]

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?

 

I've avoided commenting earlier...but have become increasingly irritated by this post. You seem to have decided tohave a go at somewhere you know nothing about.

 

Having 'decided' to come back you've only dove a few flying visits yet feel compelled to be derogatory based on years of absence and little real knowledge

 

I've just moved here from Sydney. I actually did it,not talked about it.

 

No you don't get pretentious prima Donna crap as you do in Sydney, it is more down to earth. I like it, wasn't as good as other places I've lived, maybe as London, Paris, Dubai or Dakar, but then Sydney is like your 16 year old daughter pretending to be 21. Arrogance from never having been anyway else

 

Adelaide is a great place, I think it lucked it when you decided not to come.

[Guest saintkamy]

Cadas i just want to know when you moved to sydney did you faced any problems due to state obligation? like you went to DIAC for visa sticker and then the RTA for driving licence. RTA didnt objected about being sponsored by an other state?

[Royd]

Not being able to find work in a particular city or state would be enough to put me off the place for sure. I'd have to move on too. And I think I'd be a bit jaundiced in my comments. But that doesn't make them invalid.

 

Adelaide and South Australia are interesting experiences. Adelaide is a difficult city to get to know, so much is hidden. There is definitely a stratum of hidden jobs here that are only found through personal contacts and that must be very difficult for any new arrival who hasn't got something lined up already. True the internet does offer some job-searching opportunities but that's really a more interactive version of the employment classifieds.

 

The State has been in the doldrums for many years. And it will get out of them. Its history shows that. In the early years the Province nearly went bankrupt (it was a private enterprise initiative, unlike the rest of the Colonies which were government-established). But various mineral finds (copper, gold) helped it out. It was great for agriculture (still is) but the ignorance of Goyder's Line caused massive failures in the wheat farming business before the message hit home. Its economic base was primary production until the time of Sir Tom Playford who acted like a socialist entrepreneur in getting industry to relocate to South Australia. It did well in the post-War boom right up until about the 1980s. A decline in manufacturing didn't help, the steelworks and shipbuilding enterprises at Whyalla were closed down by BHP. The incentives that Playford gave to get industries to come to the State failed to work and off they went, interstate on their way to overseas, taking the jobs with them.

 

The State Bank disaster, a private enterprise failure, hammered South Australia mercilessly and it's this that we're still dealing with.

 

Socially we've gone backwards, become more conservative, in keeping with the economic times. During the 1970s Adelaide and South Australia were vibrant, socially progressive places. They will be again, it just takes a bit of time and good management.

 

I'm no cock-eyed optimist but I can see things are starting to improve here, albeit slowly. A few years ago I would have voted to split the State and hive off its bits bordering the other States and the NT. Now, not so much. I do get a feeling that there is more confidence now. With good government we will get back on out feet and the rustbucket label will be something we look back and laugh at. But having said that, of course if it's not working for someone they need to go and find opportunities elsewhere. It's a shame they have to but that's how things are in our kind of society.

[Guest Guest12727]

I have been at SAHMRI (South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute) this weekend. and was lucky to have a tour. It is fantastic and the whole precinct there with the new RAH, the new Women's and Children's will be next, the new University Medical School, UniSA inter-disciplinary health clinic and SAHMRI 2 planned, is definitely attracting new business to SA and stopping the drain of talent to interstate and overseas. Health, health research and health education are one of the Government's focus areas for jobs growth in SA, to replace manufacturing which is on its way out. When the precinct is complete there will be 10,000 people working there.

 

The SAHMRI building has put SA on the map in the health and biomedical research arena.

 

http://www.southaustraliagov.co.uk/invest/301,billions-invested-into-new-adelaide-biomedical-precinct

[Guest thumbsup]

As someone who was born here, i have to agree with the negative comments. Adelaide is going nowhere and has been for sometime. Anything that we do is almost always token, SAHMRI is nothing special when you compare to other states or countries, it was even a struggle to get it built. In this regard Labor has a history of bringing infrastructure change the liberals on the other hand have not except for selling it off, there past record i.e opposing MATS now sees us stuck with a slow upgrade of South road. But in saying that we need real economic stimulation, somthing i dont think the current Labor party is capable of and the Liberals well at the election there was lots of talk of the business expertise of their leader but that was it no plans. They tried copying the small target fear campaign of Abbot and it failed - truly pathetic.

 

Adelaide needs big ideas which come at a cost i.e service cuts, hikes in poker tax and fines ect short term pain for long term gain.

 

Incentives - no state taxes/fees for business who transfer there business here?

 

Grants/loan scheme similar to the Federal enviroment bank which Abbot is in the process of axing - 1 billion a year focused on one or two particular growth industries(not mining or winerys), i.e for research and business establishment. By limiting industries you provide a buzz and a speciality for the state.

 

Encourage super funds to invest in the state ect. Im sure theres many more innovative ideas that can be used to stimulate and fund these ideas, which will no doubt not be done.

Edited April 26, 2014 by thumbsup

[Guest brianlynnette]

Hi I think your post is very spot on, we have been here for 2 years and we are asking ourselves was it all worth it?? my fella has been made redundant again and I cant find work, it is very much who you know here, not sure if we'll stay here or go back home but ill never regret coming here, you just need jobs to be able to enjoy the lifestyle you want, sickening thing about here is when you get a contract it means sod all here

[zebedee]

I am in the similar position, knocking on the door of the 2 year mark and thinking the same thing - was it all worth it. Silly really, as I have been in a stable job for 18 months and we've pretty much found our ideal place....but....I am not very happy in my job, the commute has turned into hell because the state gov has made a total hash of the Seaford line upgrade and it's starting to erode any good feelings I had. I am seeing few opportunities for me to move into from my current job. Add to this some of the negativity with the current leadership and some of the bonkers decisions and I am not feeling the love quite as much.

 

However, I take reality checks and I know we've had a great ride so far and I really feel for anyone who is struggling with work - we haven't really had to deal with that one, yet......

[adelaidenow]

How long does the train take now, compared to 6 months ago? I thought the long term was positive for the southern commute?

How are upgrades meant to happen without a bit of pain along the way, even allowing for delays in completion..

 

I can honestly say I have never had a bad time commuting here like I did in the UK - on a regular basis.

[zebedee]

The train ride from Seaford to Adelaide CBD takes just shy of 60 minutes - in their wisdom, Adelaide Metro have not re-instated the express trains that Noarlunga enjoyed before they shut the service down for the "upgrade". They have gone for frequency on the train line so that the city stations are better served and are not missing out due to the line needing to be clear for express services.

 

In my experience though, 90% of commuters that use the line come from suburbs from Oaklands and south - so the train ends up crawling into or out of the city and only picks up and drops of a few people. Granted, these people still need a service but the frequency they now enjoy is at huge expense to the south, which is bizarre as the whole point of adding two stations at Seaford was to help open it up for commuters.

 

There is a big campaign trying to get Metro to listen and come up with a proper timetable that balances the needs a bit better but it's hard work.....to pick up your point about pain, everyone has excepted that - but the service has now been restored for quite a few months and the promised 35-40 minute ride into the city is 20 minutes longer with little sign of express trains ever coming back.

 

The electric trains are coming on-line slowly but it will take 12+ months to deliver all of them so there is no significant improvement with them as yet as the service is still mixed....that in itself has caused problems as we recently had all the electric trains offline because the diesel smoke caused a short in the electrics that supply the new trains.

 

So, yeap, its a hash - $300 million spent and it takes longer........

[adelaidenow]

I do pity you, but a 20 min (extra) each way issue wouldn't make me think about moving back across the world.

 

I can't comment on the figures you quoted, but I am sure in a few years when the South rd upgrade is complete, the trains are fully operational and the expressway is bi-directional, the South of the City will be a lot better off than it has ever been.

[zebedee]

It will come together I think - the road upgrades will help and I think we'll see a better train service - eventually. I didn't say I was thinking of moving back - that's not happening, we were always both feet in and I love living in McLaren Vale but I am not especially happy in my job and with a 3 hour commute, I have been wondering if the move was worth it. There are some great positives to being here.....and there is lots I would deeply miss if we did go back, for whatever reason.

[adelaidenow]

Sorry, I misinterpreted the quote below.

 

I am in the similar position, knocking on the door of the 2 year mark and thinking the same thing - was it all worth it.

[zebedee]

That's okay - it does sound a bit bleak doesn't!? - when we moved to McLaren Vale, we had already lived in Adelaide for a year so our children have had a couple of school moves and I made a promise to them that McLaren Vale was going to be home whilst they all went through the rest of their schooling. And what a lovely home it is - we love the proximity of the beaches, the countryside and the vibe. It fits us very well. We are very lucky and certainly don't have the current pressure of being out of work. But if I weigh up all the cost, the missing family and friends, the huge upheaval I am not convinced my quality of life is so much better at present that it was worth it. Life is about taking chances though, and I don't underestimate how fortunate we are to have had this chance.