YouthView Report

Evidence from the HILDA Survey, 2001 to 2019

Young Australians have many opportunities for success beyond high school, including further education, training, apprenticeships, and moving directly into employment. Initial decisions on what to do when leaving high school can have long term consequences, but these decisions may not always be made with the benefit of a full range of information. Access to opportunities after high school may also be constricted due to family circumstances, regional differences, different cultural norms and schooling limitations.

To tackle disadvantage and promote equal opportunities for all young Australians, it is essential to understand how challenges and opportunities differ across different places. For example, one region may face high youth unemployment due to the lack of relevant labour market opportunities. In another region, the cause could be young people dropping out of high school too early.

This analysis explores the development and introduction of YouthView – a protoype of a series of visual tools that links observed poverty rates for youth at a community level and observed employment opportunities and vacancy rates, overall and by occupation, at a regional level.

YouthView is designed to provide timely and relevant information that can be used to:

• Better understand the variation in youth employment rates and NEET and economic disadvantage, and
• Better understand the potential avenues and choices for successful transition from high school that are critical in shaping long-term pathways.

Australia currently lacks specific tools to understand place-based policy needs related to young people with limited opportunities. Existing data on youth disadvantage and employment are scattered and separated and so are not readily available for policymakers to interpret or utilise effectively.

YouthView captures critical information necessary to understand place-based youth disadvantage and labour market needs and to provide evidence-based insights on what is required to promote viable employment and training opportunities for young Australians.

Read the full report Request a briefing

AUTHORS
Dr. Ujjwal KC
Dr. Steeve Marchand
Professor A. Abigail Payne