MEDIA RELEASE THE HON BRENDAN O’CONNOR MP Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations SENATOR THE HON JAN MCLUCAS Shadow Minister for Mental Health Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness Senator for Queensland Developing solutions to address youth unemployment Around forty local employers, educators, training organisations, industry groups and job agencies today collaborated to help develop solutions to address the high youth unemployment rate in Cairns. Shadow Minister for Employment, Brendan O’Connor addressed the which forum provided an opportunity for local leaders to constructively discuss the challenges facing young people securing employment and work towards developing local policy solutions. “The youth unemployment rate is alarmingly high, about double the national average,” Mr O’Connor said. “Here in Cairns and the Far North, the situation is even more worrying for young people. “Labor is committed to working with local business, community and education sectors to ensure young people find work through support, training, work experience and incentives. “Cutting their income support like Tony Abbott is doing will not help them get into work or education or training.” Mr O’Connor said figures released yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that Australia’s unemployment rate is now worse than the United States. “Queensland had the biggest increase in unemployment, up 0.5 per cent,” he said. “The Government must do more to stop jobs being lost. Unemployment is rising and the Abbott Government still has no plans for jobs.” Hosting the forum today, Queensland Senator Jan McLucas said it was encouraging to see such a strong and positive response from local organisations in addressing the challenges facing our local young people. “The economy and labour market in Cairns has been a challenge in recent years, but it is clear our young people, particularly those who are disadvantaged, are facing an even bigger battle,” Senator McLucas said. “This presents a range of social, community and economic challenges. “Our community needs to enable our jobless young people to build their qualifications, skills and experience to obtain a job in today’s economy. “I want our young people to have the opportunity to receive a quality education in Cairns and not have to move when they graduate or finish their training to another city to get a good job.” Friday 8 August 2014
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 02:54:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015