Budget 2014 - changes to dole for under 30's, youth unemployment, homelessness

[cherry*135]

What is the Govt doing, apart from training & education intitiatives to create employment for this group?

There are 257 000 unemployed youth in Australia.

Our local TAFES have had cuts and less courses available.  The unemployed youth in this area is the 2nd highest in NSW. 

[soul_art]

I think if people choose to scrape a living on gov payments, leave them to it.  They're in the minority and the money spent trying to catch them for fraud, money spent on training that they really don't want to do, money spent on clothing for interviews etc etc would be better used for those who do want to work....and they are the majority.

I mean who would choose to live on a pittance ? not many, so let them and concentrate on apprenticeship schemes and real training, not half baked rubbish that leads nowhere.

One thing that stands out is how the age group until 30, are being treated like youngsters more and more.......surely once a person turns 21 they are an adult and shouldn't have to depend on parents for housing, food etc?    I have to wonder why the gov etc is trying to keep these people dependent on their parents at an age most would be ready to stretch their wings and start living their life independently.  Sure some help while at uni/ living on low apprentiship wages is needed but to receive NO gov payment if not employed or studying means sponging off parents who shoudn't have to support adult children.  It would be embarissing and affect self esteem, create problems in the home.  As for those with no family.........heaven help them.

[spotweldersfriend]

I wonder how this policy will affect small cimmunities.Those that have to wait for benefits will have to be supported by family.That means belt tightening all round and less money flowing into the tills of local businesses.In such instances this policy might even create more unemployment.And how are charities supposed to cope.They're stretched as it is.

[freakiness]

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@catsnknots wrote:

This has been written about in another thread... I am not going to repeat it but it is basically the same as it is now and if you are making an effort you will be fine 

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Making an effort doesn't get people a job if there aren't any to be had.  A local TAFE said they get 400 applicants for every course with 12 places available.  That's 388 people who made an effort and missed out.  Why should they go without the basic safety net for months?

[freakiness]

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@catsnknots wrote:

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@am*3 wrote:

Repeated from post above. When they have finished studying and haven't worked a much when studying ( esp high school students)

• Because we want new jobseekers, especially those leaving school and university, to actually look for work, income support will only be provided once a six month period of job hunting has been completed.

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You should be teaching your child to look for a job throughout their uni experience. 

They should not start their search at the END of their degree but thoughout their degree. It is hard to get a job and they should be under no illusion that a Uni degree is guarenteed to open a door. 

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Oh please! Not everyone can find work during their uni course. Some plan to return to their home areas on completion of degree.

Most are not under any illusion that their degree will guarantee an immediate job.  Most students do look for work during their uni experience.

[chameleon54]

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@soul_art wrote:

One thing that stands out is how the age group until 30, are being treated like youngsters more and more.......surely once a person turns 21 they are an adult and shouldn't have to depend on parents for housing, food etc?    I have to wonder why the gov etc is trying to keep these people dependent on their parents at an age most would be ready to stretch their wings and start living their life independently.  Sure some help while at uni/ living on low apprentiship wages is needed but to receive NO gov payment if not employed or studying means sponging off parents who shoudn't have to support adult children.  It would be embarissing and affect self esteem, create problems in the home.  As for those with no family.........heaven help them.

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If they are old enough that we would expect them to enlist in a war situation, they're old enough to recieve government support if genuinely unemployed and trying to find work !

[freakiness]

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@*elizabeths-mum* wrote:
"Because we want new jobseekers, especially those leaving school and university, to actually look for work, income support will only be provided once a six month period of job hunting has been completed."

Is that a quoted policy? I find the word 'actually' offensive. To me it implies that they sit back waiting for jobs to fall into their laps while all the young people I know actively search for work, ideally in the field of their qualification, but any work if not.

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Yes, it did imply that young people are lazy and don't try to find work. They must be speaking through their own experience or that of their children.  All the young people I know love their income too much to not work.  My daughter travelled 2 and half hours each way to her first and second job. She was living in Bateman's Bay and travelled to Wollongong for the first and Canberra for the second. 

[*elizabeths-mum*]

'surely once a person turns 21 they are an adult and shouldn't have to depend on parents for housing, food etc? '

I have often thought the same. People have to vote from 18 and they can be sent to fight for their country at 18. Yet if they want a centrelink payment for study and haven't fit the other criteria, they have to be 22, which only recently dropped from 25 as they aren't considered 'independent'.

[lane-ends]

What happens if these parents are on a disability pension themselves, then the "child" becomes even more disadvantaged and less attractive to potential emplyers than those who have not been so disadvantaged. Getting kids out of home and on their own two feet is the best way to make them effective.

Its not like the good old days when a spot of trench warfare would cull the youth. Now we have to pretend they dont exist. If they are not eligable for for benefit, then they wont appear on unemployment stats will they

[lane-ends]

If someone is old enough to join the military then they are old enough to be treated as independent from their parents. Or is kids with guns acceptable? I was under the impression that the army was made up of men and women

[cherry*135]

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@freakiness wrote:

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@catsnknots wrote:

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@am*3 wrote:

Repeated from post above. When they have finished studying and haven't worked a much when studying ( esp high school students)

• Because we want new jobseekers, especially those leaving school and university, to actually look for work, income support will only be provided once a six month period of job hunting has been completed.

---

You should be teaching your child to look for a job throughout their uni experience. 

They should not start their search at the END of their degree but thoughout their degree. It is hard to get a job and they should be under no illusion that a Uni degree is guarenteed to open a door. 

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Oh please! Not everyone can find work during their uni course. Some plan to return to their home areas on completion of degree.  That is how it is in the real world.

Most are not under any illusion that their degree will guarantee an immediate job.  Most students do look for work during their uni experience.

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catmad wrote: 

You should be teaching your child to look for a job throughout their uni experience. 

Not sure if that is aimed directly at me or at parents in general. If at me, I didn't need to 'teach' my children anything. They wanted to get a part time job when at school, my youngest did all the applications off her own bat and after many 'no replies' got one at Macca's when she was nearly 15. I am not so smug as to assume every other student (high school or Uni)  should be able to do the same, due to lack of jobs.

However, one or the other my children have been at Uni since 2008 and one still has a year to go. They have managed to get p/t work while at Uni but many of their friends haven't (due to lack of work in the area). One girl got about 2hrs a week as a casual at a major hotel chain in the restaraunt. Some employers, to avoid paying the Super Guarantee Charge, split the work amongst the casuals (so only a few hours each) so they don't earn >$450 a month that requires the employer to contribute to their super fund.

Another point that chameleon pointed out is, employers in the hospitality industry and retail will employ youth as casuals but when they hit the adult wage they don't give them anymore work and replace them with someone still on youth rates.

My youngest got a job in another big takeway chain when she returned from overseas study. She was 21, they chose her because she had fast food work experience. She only got p/t work in school hours, after those hours evenings, w/e & school holidays they used secondary school students.

She works part-time in the Uni Library now (well she did, she is studying overseas again at present) . She has a Certificate in this field.

The eldest worked p/t in hospitality all 6 years of her degree...got tfirst job because someone knew someone who told her a cafe was hiring.

This is what is actually happening, not some theory.... easy for anyone to say this person or that person should get a job.

There are 21 000+ students at our regional Uni, in a city where jobs are vanishing. Redundancies for people with permanent jobs.. they aren't eating out, going on holiday etc, so employers in those fields don't have as much work to offer casuals.It is  very tough out there, and making some of these students do job search for 6 mths without income support, who were unable to get much p/t work no matter how they tried is just plain cruel. It devalues them and the time, effort  & cost they put in to become educated to a higher level.

My children also have friends who were unable to get a job in their field when they graduated. Some go back and do more Uni study, or change track and decide to become a teacher instead ( which concerns me as becoming a teacher is a second thought, rather than someone who has always wanted to be one)