Our NEET new class
Not in Employment, Education or Training
NATASHA BITA, Herald-Sun, 15/9/2016
AN army of young Australians “unwilling to work” spend the day sleeping, watching TV or playing computer games, a new report has found.
There are now 580,000 young people who fall under the classification “NEETs”, those “not in employment, education or training”, an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report says.
The number of NEETs has soared by 100,000 since the global financial crisis eight years ago and they now account for one in every eight Australians aged 15 to 29.
The OECD’s investing In Youth report is based on data from the federal Employment Department and the government-funded Household, Income and Labour Dynamics survey of 10,000 households.
It says male NEETs “spend more time on ‘leisure’ activities such as computing or watching TV, and more time sleeping than female NEETs”.
“NEET women tend to spend a significant amount of their time on domestic duties and childcare, while NIET men spend more of their time idle, engaged in leisure activities and sleeping,” it says.
The report shows 41 per cent of NEETs want a job and are seeking work.
Another 19 per cent want a job but aren’t looking.
Together, about 360,000 young people “would like to work but cannot because of a lack or inadequacy of job offers or because of conflicting life arrangements”, it says.
But the remaining 220,000 NEETs are “inactive and unwilling to work”, the report says. “Male NEETs are likely to require comprehensive social, health and employment support to be able to re-engage in education or training,” the 292-page report says.
The report says young women often drop out of work or study to have children, while young men drop out due to “low educational attainment, a lack of suitable employment options and ill-health (or) disability.”
Ashleigh Whiting, 21, from Mt Druitt in Sydney’s west, would rather munch on Maccas and take her old Holden Barina on “off-road tracks” than look for a job.
“I don’t want to work my whole life and just die … I want more than that,” she said from the carpark of the Mt Druitt Centrelink office.
“I would tell you it’s hard to get a job but, to be honest, I don’t even try. Centrelink pays my rent and that’s all I need.”
Jenny Lambert, of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said bosses needed staff who had better literacy, numeracy and technical skills.
“It’s a vicious cycle of young people who want to work but need experience, but how do they get experience without work?” she said.
Note: The girl quoted above was apparently already employed and just made up that statement on a whim: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-37426644
Linked from 15/9/2016 Journal