Demography 101

A quarterly roundup of facts and figures from the world you live in

Employment and the Millenials

BY SHEILA ALLISON

Id never worked at a permanent job until I

Had Dapin, as a young Briton, arrived in

came to Australia, and, looking back, I was

Australia now, he would have encountered a

still a child. Its unemployment that stunts

youth unemployment rate roughly the same

your growth more than accepting benefits,

as it was in 1991, around 18%. While this is

and thats why I say I didnt grow up.

not good, in other parts of the world (see

Anyone curious about the participation

of so many young people in the UK street
celebrations of Margaret Thatchers death
this year would have been gently enlightened
by Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mark
Dapins Living under the rule of the Iron Lady.

below) it is much worse. The implications of

this too-long period of unemployment and
underemployment for youth are complex. It is
not just the quantity of work that matters, but
the quality as well. This point is made in the 2012
ILO report, The youth unemployment crisis: Time
for action, which states that lower quality jobs,

Dapin grew up, or tried to, in Thatchers

low pay, and informality impede opportunities

Britain. She was prime minister from before

to advance and contribute to productivity.

I left school at 17 until after I left England

Rather than acting as steppingstones to the

at 26. He writes that her government grew

formal economy, temporary employment and

unemployment from one million to three million.

short-term contracts may simply continue to

He was on the dole and says, When youve

entrench workers in the informal economy, with

never worked, you begin to believe you could

serious implications for the rest of their lives.

never work, and thats only a short step from

concluding that you cant do anything at all.

The unluckiest generation?

Unemployment is a universal handicap to

This ongoing disadvantage holds true even

maturity and independence. You dont grow

in the developed world, as described by

up until youve got a job, and that applies to

Derek Thompson in the Washington DC

each generation. Dapin is from Gen X, and

NationalJournal. In his article Millennials

his unemployment experience was tied to

are the unluckiest generation, Thompson

the political and economic circumstances of

puts the case that the Gen Ys, the 3.7m

where he was in his youth. Other people of

Americans born in 1982, are, in the eyes of

his generation in other parts of the world

demographers categorically different from

had different experiences, good and bad, as

the 3.6m Americans born in 1981. They are the

Gen Ys or Millennials are having now.

largest generation in American history, and

Youth Studies Australia . Volume 32 Number 2 2013

they landed in the cradle during an awful

Gen C. Thats C for connected; it is not

recession, learned to walk during the Reagan

entirely age-specific, but hovers around the

recovery, came of age in the booming 1990s,

ages of 18 to 34, the young adults who are

and entered the labor market after the Sept. 11

digital natives or who are at ease connecting

attacks and before the Great Recession The

with each other and their cultural world

aftereffects of the economic sledgehammer

digitally. Gen C is international and they

that followed the collapse of the housing

may have more in common with fellow Gen

market in 200708, says Thompson, may

Cs across borders, than with their fellow

dog them for the rest of their working lives.

countrymen across generations. In the world of

Gen Y is the most educated in American history,

and they willingly took on their university

unemployment, they have much in common.

1996 and 2006, because they assumed they would

Around the world of youth

unemployment

get jobs to pay them off; instead they found

Stagnant wages are not exclusive to the US. In

themselves stranded in the worst economy

early 2013, the UK reported the lowest growth

in 80 years. As Thompson says, It costs a

in pay rises since 2001, and the unemployment

lot to be a grown-up, at least if you do it the

rate for 16- to 24-year-olds rose to 21.1%,

traditional way. But this generation is doing it

nearly one million young people. (General

differently, postponing the traditional actions

unemployment rose to 7.9%.) But, as UK

of moving out of home, buying a car, getting

economist Howard Archer pointed out, had

married, having children. Sadly, Millennials

the growth in earnings risen, there may have

have been scorned as perma-children, forever

been more purchasing power for consumers,

postponing adulthood, or labeled with that most

but also higher unemployment figures.

un-American of character flaws: helplessness.

Another factor is inflation. A gap between pay

education debts, which doubled in cost between

But this bad timing is not their fault, anymore

than Dapin was at fault for being 17 in Thatchers
Britain. While this generation can make
and is making sensible postponements and
adjustments to accommodate their situation,
the long-term lag in income generation is

rises and inflation will cause a reduction in

consumer spending. The key is overall economic
growth, which is not happening in much of
Europe, and the Guardian reported in April
that the UK was just one quarter of negative
growth away from a triple-dip recession.

there in the figures. A 2013 report by the Urban

In November 2012, the COAG (Council of

Institute shows that while average household

Australian Governments) Reform Council

income nearly doubled between 1983 and 2010,

reported that the proportion of Australian 18- to

the average for those born after 1970 was 7%

24-year-olds neither studying nor working had

below the 1983 average. Interestingly, this

risen from 23.7% in 2008 to 27.5% in 2011. (This

group was falling behind even before the Great

is different from the lower statistical figure of

Recession: They were on the losing side of

youth unemployment, which is the percentage

stagnant wages and weak job opportunities,

of the total labor force aged 15 to 24 unemployed

negating the long-observed pattern that, as our

during a specified year; in 2012 Australia, this

society gets wealthier, each generation gains

was 11.6%. The general unemployment rate

relative to the previous one at any given age.

in March 2013 was 5.6%.) On that 27.5% figure,

There is a more recent generation term:

Youth Studies Australia . Volume 32 Number 2 2013

The Ages Lenore Taylor says, Thats 620,000

young Australians doing not very much in those

years when they need to be doing a lot to start

In India big factories and firms are

a successful working life and achieving the

handicapped by having to grapple

financial security and personal stability that goes

with around 200 state and federal

with it. The Council was unable to explain the

laws governing work and pay.

rogue statistic, but the figure was also backed

by a Foundation for Young Australians report.
The global financial crisis was mentioned by
the Australian Industry Group as a contributing
factor to that number: Young workers are the
first to get sacked or to miss out on jobs and
their careers dont catch up in the recovery.
The OECDs term for these young people is
NEETS: not in employment, education or
training. A comprehensive feature, Generation
Jobless, in the Economist calculates (from ILO,
OECD and World Bank figures) that around the
world there are almost 300m 15- to 24-year-old
NEETs, or almost a quarter of the planets
youth. Some of the points about other parts
of the world made by the Economist include:
Emerging economies have the largest and

Spain, France, Italy and Greece have some

of the highest rates of youth unemployment
in the rich world. Morocco, Egypt and other
north African and Middle Eastern countries
have among the worst rates in the emerging
world attributed to employments main
curses: low growth, clogged labour markets
and a mismatch between education and work.
It is in that mismatch between education and
work that the Economist sees some hope for
change if countries would adopt policies and
practices that better align young people with
the jobs that already exist, transforming
unemployment systems from safety nets
to spring boards, providing retraining and
job placement. The Nordic countries, for
example, have introduced youth guarantees,

fastest-growing youth populations and

personalised plans to provide every young

also the worst-run labour markets. Almost

person with training or a job. Germany, too, has

half of the worlds young people live in

low youth unemployment and a long tradition

South Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and

of high-quality vocational education and

these regions also have the highest share of

apprenticeships; while next door in France, few

young people out of work or in the informal

high school leavers have any real experience of

sector. The youth population (1524) in

work. South Korea is even employing a German

Africa is expected to reach 275m by 2025.

word, meister, meaning master craftsman,

Japans youth unemployment has remained

high even after the early 1990s financial crisis,
and now a large class of hikikomori (reclusive

in their 2010 initiative setting up vocational

meister schools to reduce the countrys
shortage of machine operators and plumbers.

adolescents) live with their parents, rarely go

Technology is a good part of the reason why

out and have withdrawn from the workforce.

so many entry-level jobs have disappeared,

There is less data from China, but one large

Harvard/Tsinghua University study suggests
any impact of joblessness on young Chinese
earnings disappears after three years.
Indonesias 1997 financial crisis caused job

but it can also be a positive in providing

opportunities for low-cost training that can
be undertaken at home or in regional areas.
It can also, as the Economist says, provide
young people with a chance to gain virtual
experience at minimum cost. Perhaps we can

losses among young people who may still be

find additional ways of positively exploiting

out of the workforce or in informal jobs.

the digital connectedness of this generation.

Youth Studies Australia . Volume 32 Number 2 2013

The value of paid employment in the

development of people, communities, societies,
nations and the planet is undisputed. There is
also a time in our lives when this opportunity is
most beneficial in setting the groundwork for
our futures. Mark Dapin said he almost cried
when he heard Margaret Thatcher had died. For
him, she represented that lost opportunity. To
not have had a proper job between the ages of
17 and 26 is something we would not wish on
our worst enemy, let alone on 300 million of the
generation of people who will soon be in charge.

Author
Sheila Allison is a senior editor with
ACYS Publishing and a former editor
of Youth Studies Australia.

Youth Studies Australia . Volume 32 Number 2 2013