64% migrants lack Australian work experience.
Western Sydney’s Migrant and Youth Unemployment Problems
Migrant unemployment on the rise.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one out of every three migrants looking for work encountered significant difficulties in finding their first job. This figure had remained consistent for some time.
According to the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA), the rate of unemployed people newly arrived from non-English speaking backgrounds is double the national average.
In 2019, there were over 2.433 million temporary migrants, with 230,000 on a bridging visa. As a result of COVID-19, almost all of these migrants are stranded in Australia. This is one of Australia’s largest groups of people who do not receive social assistance.
One of our clients, a newly arrived migrant with 8 years of secondary school teaching experience, was perplexed as to why her job applications for teaching Mathematics and Science in high school were not considered.
According to November 2010 statistics, one-third (35%) of recent migrants experienced difficulty finding their first job in Australia.
The Greater Western Sydney area is a key hub for migrant and refugee settlement and because it has a large number of international students. To give an example, in the Blacktown City Council local government region, 40.4 percent of the population was born overseas, with 60.4 percent of the population having both parents who were born overseas. Compared to national proportions, these 2016 Census data are significantly higher than the national average: overall, 33.3 percent of all Australians were born overseas, with just 33.4 percent having both parents born abroad.
Similarly, other local government areas in Western Sydney, like Liverpool and Cumberland, are experiencing a similar pattern. It goes without saying that Greater Western Sydney is a place where freshly settled migrant groups reside, and as such, it is an appropriate target for our program, which is specifically designed for jobseekers from CALD backgrounds.
Lack of internship Opportunities for young people
Pockets of youth unemployment in excess of 20 per cent not sufficiently addressed
According to the MID-TERM REPORT CARD: The NSW Government’s performance in Western Sydney 23 March 2021
Accountability for the large scale and targeted investment attraction and job creation programs Western Sydney so evidently requires is exceedingly hard to pin down.
Western Sydney has a significantly higher rate of youth unemployment than the rest of NSW and Australia. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated youth unemployment, which has long been a feature of the labour market.
In addition, a large number of new migrants have settled in this area. Unemployed people who are ineligible for any form of social assistance may have a better chance of participating in internships and work experience programmes offered by corporations than they would otherwise.
Since 2020, Career Tweaks and other companies in collaboration with Pathly Incorporated, provides internship opportunities to university students. For example, they have placed over eighty students in mentorship, internship and work experience programs. Students are able to receive academic credit for their efforts, and struggling employers can use free resources for eight to twelve weeks to complete projects on time.
