There are more unemployed young people in Brisbane’s western corridor in March 2017 compared to 12 months ago.
Recently released figures are causing alarm as unemployment among the youth has risen to a 17-year high at 15.7%. This represents an 8.2% increase from the previous year and the second-highest increase in Queensland, next only to Outback.
The information suggests that young people ages 15-24 years are having a difficult time finding a job. Tarnya Smith, State LNP MP for Mt Ommaney, is among those who expressed alarm over the decline in employment opportunities for young residents in the area.
Ms. Smith said that she has received several calls from parents who were frustrated about the lack of work opportunities for their children. She said that the situation worsened due to inaction from the government to ensure that young residents will be able to find work.
According to Ms Smith, the unemployment rate would have been higher if not for the number of young people who simply gave up looking for work.
Young jobseekers exclaimed that there are not a lot of jobs out there for them. It appears that there is a huge number of people graduating, but only a limited number of jobs are available for them.
Ms Smith sees this as a wake-up call to locals who should be calling their local member to seek what needs to be done to address the issue. She calls for a plan to invest in Tools for Tradies, job start incentives and small business incentives to create more jobs for young people in the area.
