Do you know anyone who has started in an unskilled role lately, where they learned about the job while on the job?
The head of Anglicare told SBS News such entry-level roles are becoming few and far between, making it harder for those without qualifications or experience to get a look in when it comes to finding employment.
“We are seeing a diminishing number of roles that people can walk straight into and learn on the job,” Anglicare executive director Kasy Chambers said.
The results of the organisation’s latest annual Jobs Availability Snapshot found that while more Australians may be employed compared to this time last year, the challenge of getting a job for those without any qualifications or experience has increased.
While there were 15 job seekers for every entry-level role last year, the report, released on Thursday, showed that there are now 26 job seekers for a similar vacancy in Australia.
“Our Snapshot shows that almost 560,000 Australians in this situation are looking for work. They are long-term unemployed, and they are being left behind each year,” Chambers said.
“They need entry-level jobs to get their feet on the ladder, but there aren’t enough to meet demand in any part of the country.”
The Snapshot, which measures how many jobs are available for people who don’t have qualifications or work experience found that on average 18 of those 26 people vying for each entry-level job have barriers to work.
Chambers said people with disabilities, those who did not finish year 12 at school or older workers who lost their jobs later in life were the worst affected, spending almost four years, on average, looking for work.
Chambers said entry-level opportunities should be created in growing sectors such as aged care and disability support, adding that while many such roles — especially those in retail and agriculture — had been lost to automation, there was room for more. While employment figures have risen in Australia in the past year,
Chambers said the jobs added to the economy were at a higher level.
“Employers are increasingly wanting roles where they’re asking for really quite complex skills, they’re asking for a strong task mix and degrees or three years of experience,” she said.
Chambers said Australia should be looking to areas in the economy needing to expand their workforce such as aged and disability care to create more entry-level roles.
And while certain roles could be rethought and restructured instead of having requirements that ruled out a portion of job seekers, job creation should not be left up to operators alone, she said.
“We do need to have government input on those roles.”
Chambers said part of the struggle for those looking for entry-level roles was that they were “trapped in poverty while they look for work.”
“Australia needs to lift job seekers out of poverty,” she said.
“If you’re unemployed, you will most likely be on $346 a week [from Centrelink,] what we hear from people is that the kinds of choices they have to make in order to exist on that money are actually life-limiting.
(SBC)
