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Job Compacts Comments
JOBS COMPACT IS A STEP IN RIGHT DIRECTION, BUT LABOUR MARKET REFORM IS ALSO NEEDED
The new jobs and training compact announced at COAG yesterday will be a positive step if it succeeds in stopping young people from moving straight from school onto welfare. However, training is the means to an end, not an end in itself.
‘If the program is poorly designed, it will be a waste of taxpayers’ money and will not result in better outcomes for young people,’ says Jessica Brown from the Centre for Independent Studies.
‘Past experience shows that forcing low-ability kids to stay in school or training when they don't want to be there is counter-productive. What they really need is an apprenticeship or job."
‘Anything which stops young people leaving school and going straight onto welfare is positive, but we need to make sure we're not just pushing kids into training courses for the sake of it,’ says Brown.
‘International experience shows that training programs don't always work for young unemployed people.’
‘There needs to be an equal empahsis on earning as well as learning. The OECD recently warned the Rudd government that rolling back welfare-to-work reforms and changes to IR laws which make young people more expensive to hire could result in increased youth unemployment. Reform in these areas could make a bigger difference than training, says Brown.’
Jessica Brown is a Policy Analyst at the Centre for Independent Studies.
She is available for comment.
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