Michael Sukkar MP

Creating a path to real jobs for young people

The Turnbull Government’s national economic plan for jobs and growth in a stronger, new and more diversified economy will create a new path to youth employment, helping young people through Australia’s economic transition.

The Government will invest $840.3 million over four years in a Youth Employment Package to assist up to 120,000 vulnerable young people take advantage of job opportunities as the economy diversifies and transitions to broader-based growth.

Michael Sukkar, Federal Member for Deakin, said the new Youth Employment Package builds on initiatives introduced by the Government last year to help support youth employment.

“In the last 18 months, 50,000 more young Australians have found jobs, but there is more work to be done,” Michael said.

“The new measures will further boost young people’s job prospects by helping them to be better prepared for the workplace and encouraging more businesses to open the door to them.”

At the core of the package is the Youth Jobs PaTH (Prepare-Trial-Hire), a $751.7 million initiative to help maximise the chances of job seekers under 25 getting a job.

The programme will involve three flexible stages:

• Employability skills training will begin on 1 April 2017 to help prepare young job seekers for the workplace. The training will help young people better understand what employers expect of them and give them the skills, attitudes and behaviours required to be successful in a job.
• From 1 April 2017, up to 30,000 young job seekers each year will be eligible to undertake an internship placement of 4 to 12 weeks. The internships will be voluntary and provide incentives of $1,000 upfront to a business to host an intern and a $200 fortnightly payment to job seekers on top of their income support.
• From 1 January 2017 a Youth Bonus wage subsidy of between $6,500 and $10,000 will be available to businesses who take on an eligible young job seeker. As part of this measure, existing wage subsidies (including those for youth, parents, indigenous and mature-age workers, and the long?term unemployed) will be streamlined, making them easier for employers to access.

“These three initiatives – pre-employment training, real work experience and wage subsidies – have been proven to help young people get a job and stay in a job,” Michael said.

The Youth Employment Package will also include measures to complement the Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda, with an additional investment of $88.6 million over four years to encourage Australians to start a business and create their own job.

From December 2016, the highly successful New Enterprise Incentive Scheme will be expanded to offer an additional 2,300 places per year and broaden its eligibility so that more job seekers, including those not on income support, have the opportunity to participate in the programme.

Furthermore, two week ‘Exploring Being My Own Boss’ workshops for up to 1,000 job seekers a year will be made available, followed by an internship with a small business to encourage young people to consider self-employment.

From December 2016, Inclusive Entrepreneurship Facilitators in three regions with high youth unemployment will promote entrepreneurship and join up available services and programmes such as jobactive, the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme, microfinance services and start-up incubators.

Young people keen on creating their own jobs will be able to access Entrepreneurship Starter Packs that bring together this information, helping them to find the services and assistance they need.

These measures, combined with existing initiatives (including the Transition to Work service, Empowering YOUth Initiatives and ParentsNext), will put young job seekers on a positive pathway to finding and keeping a job, as we work towards growing our new economy.

For more information, please visit budget.liberal.org.au