Helping hand back to work

Queensland recruiters believe moves in the Federal Budget could help break the cycle of long-term unemployment, writes Michael Lund (The Courier-Mail)

MOVES in the Budget to help the long-term unemployed get back into the workforce have been welcomed by the Queensland recruitment industry.

The Brisbane-based Sarina Russo Job Access recruitment firm welcomes the Budget moves to target those considered disadvantaged in the employment market.

"The 130,000 training places will help address long-term disadvantage by ensuring jobseekers with workforce barriers are made job-ready," managing director Sarina Russo says.

"These new programs will allow us to motivate, mentor and ensure the long-term unemployed are job-ready and the targeted incentives will encourage employers to give them a chance to prove themselves in the workforce.

Julie Rogan is president of the Queensland arm of the Career Development Association of Australia. She says more money is needed for support groups and organisations that help prepare people to return to work.

"We have some great people out there doing things," she says. "It's just the funding."

One of the problems when dealing with the long-term unemployed is changing the attitude that a life on benefits is better than a life in the workplace.

"They come from families where education isn't important and work isn't important," she says.

"Young people have seen that they can get benefits and they can manage on that.

"They don't know the benefits of working."

Part of the problem may be down to their parents having a bad experience when they were in education.

"Some young people are battling to come to school when their parents are against it," Rogan says.

"The parents don't want their sons and daughters to be more educated than them."

In other cases, she says, some mothers will keep their daughters away from school as punishment.

But Rogan says with the right kind of support - appropriately funded by government - it is possible to overcome these problems and get both the young and the long-term unemployed into work.

"Some that haven't worked for a long time find it hard," she says.

"They don't know how to look for a job, how to present for a job and how to sustain that job in the long term when they get one."

Rogan says that can change with the right kind of training and support. She tells of one family that were all unemployed. One member tried to find work but it was felt problems with his front teeth were preventing him getting any job offers.

Rogan points to last week's CareerOne cover story that told how some employers were judging people based on their appearance over any skills or qualifications.

She says she helped the man get some dental work, which helped improve his self-esteem. He then secured some training work, which inspired both his brother and mother to find work. "So that goes from a jobless household to one in work and two in training," she says.

That's why she's optimistic - with "some reservations" - about Treasurer Wayne Swan's promise in the Budget of $233 million to make sure the long term unemployed are not left behind. That includes:

$95 million on six-month wage subsidies to reward employers who take on a long-term unemployed person.

$133 million for those who have been unemployed for more than two years to help them get two days a week work experience.

The Budget documents note that nearly 230,000 people on income support have been receiving employment service support for more than two years.

The Federal Government is also targeting $38 million in funding to 10 locations it defines as "disadvantaged areas", which include Rockhampton and Logan in Queensland.

Rogan says she would like to see more funding on what she calls a "wrap around" approach.

"It's about changing attitudes and breaking that cycle of unemployment," she says.

More funding needs to be directed towards career development, education and advice in schools, she says.

Rogan believes the current system doesn't allow much time for students to get career advice.

"So it becomes more of an information-giving exercise for what they've already asked for and that doesn't expose them to something new," she says.

Again, the Budget documents note that there are 320,000 young people who are not in education, employment or training who need to helped.

The document says: "Ensuring young people finish school and make the transition into further study or employment is important to ensure they get off to the right start and prevents them from falling into that cycle of disadvantage."

With talk of a skill shortage in some key areas in Queensland, Rogan says there are still some barriers to people finding work in so-called boom sectors such as the mining industry.

"I have a client who has been trying to get into the mines for six months but can't get an answer," she says.

"We think it's because she's a female. "She wants to drive trucks and she's got the licence, she's been in the army, she would make a good candidate, but it's quite male oriented. There are these gender-biased jobs that females are not being exposed to when they can do these male-dominated jobs."

That goes back to career training and development, which she says needs to be addressed.