The Morrison Government continues to drive job opportunities for young people despite the current challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister for Youth and Sport, Richard Colbeck, today welcomed the new $2.5 billion JobTrainer package, announced this week by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
It comes as the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Labour Force figures released this morning, show that despite a rise in the youth unemployment rate to 16.4 per cent in June – seasonally adjusted the increase of 101,500 across the month is still 233,100 (or 11.9 per cent) below March 2020 levels.
Minister Colbeck said it was an encouraging sign given the challenges of 2020.
“Young people have been heavily impacted by the pandemic because they are largely represented in the hardest hit industries, including food services, accommodation, tourism, and the arts sectors,” Minister Colbeck said.
“As the Prime Minister has said, in order to get young people back into work, everything is on the table including what we are already doing in industrial relations, Youth Jobs PaTH initiatives and apprenticeships.
The Morrison Government will invest $2 billion to give hundreds of thousands of Australians access to new skills by retraining and upskilling them into sectors with job opportunities, as the economy recovers from COVID-19.
The JobTrainer skills package will also guarantee support for thousands of apprentices in jobs across the country by subsidising their wages to keep them employed and their training secured.
“Young people have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Australian Government continues to take action to limit the fallout,” Minister Colbeck said.
“The pandemic is a national health emergency and the economic impact is widespread.
“This is why the Government continues to invest in programs that give young Australians the assistance and encouragement to learn new skills which will help them become job ready and enter the workforce as the labour market improves.”
Minister Colbeck said the JobTrainer Package will expand and extend existing wage subsidies for apprentices and trainees.