OLDERPRENEURS

During my short hiatus I was asked why this column has changed from talking about bullet trains, cycle ways and international airports to a focus on youth employment. I believe it is Australia’s most important issue. Roy Morgan Research in their March 04, 2014 report indicates the national unemployment rate for 18-24 year olds is 28%, over 1 in 4. Government figures paint a lower figure youth unemployment rate of 13.5%, (it’s interesting to read Roy Morgan’s explanation for the difference) still above the world wide average. Where is the ongoing media attention demanding this be seriously addressed? If not, current youth unemployment will be a long term chain around every community in the Australian economy. We read in recent editions of 64 year old Geoff Clarke’s difficulty in gaining employment despite his qualifications and experience. There is also a trend labelled as olderpreneurs, where 1 in 4 new small businesses are started by over 50 year olds. Part of the unemployment problem is not enough jobs are being created. Government needs to encourage more small businesses to start, with incentives to hire unemployed youth. We hear of difficulties to find tradespeople, poor customer service and for more diversity of shopping experiences so it can be assumed there are opportunities to develop more successful businesses. There would be a risk associated with assisting small businesses due to their high failure rate, but if the assistance was a decreasing company tax rate for the first 3 years depending on the number of youth employed by an out of work over 50 year old, to the point it could even be zero, what has the government lost and consider the possible gains. Unfair competitive advantage might be the response from some businesses, but many already they have the opportunity to benefit from incentives to hire youth if they wanted too. Olderpreneur is not for every out of work over 50 year old (or should it be), but with increasing longevity and the higher cost of living, it will be more than just a current trend and could be part of the solution to youth unemployment. The media needs to continually highlight how important of an issue youth unemployment is to get all levels of government more proactive about real job creation.