Youth Labour Markets
Unemployment rates for young people [15-24 years of age] have improved markedly across Victoria in the last twelve months. Overall, this is unequivocally a good thing and these youth labour markets appear to be improving.
In fact, seventeen of the eighteen regions show improvement in youth unemployment rates. Only the North-West region has shown a deterioration for young people both in the previous twelve months and between 2015 and 2019.
Unemployment Ratios
We also know labour markets work differently for the young when compared to the rest of the population.
As detailed in the International Labour Organisation’s Key Indicators of the Labour Market [KILM] it is generally understood that Youth Unemployment runs at some-where between two [2] to three [3] times the base “adult” or “standard” unemployment rate. This is a measure of the “harshness” of the labour market experienced by young people.
Fifty-five percent of Victorian regions [10 of 18] have shown improvements/reductions in youth unemployment ratios.
The Victorian regions that remain worse off [harsher] than they were in 2015 include: Shepparton, North-West, Melbourne South-East, Latrobe, Bendigo, Warrnambool and Ballarat.
This chart maps out the trends in regional youth labour markets between 2015 and 2019
