Currently in University and nearing graduation? Things are shaping up to be a lot bleaker than first predicted for life immediately following the pomp, circumstance, hats and robes that is your graduation ceremony. With student debt already set to soar thanks to the deregulation of Uni fees, and the readjustment of HECS interest rates, there is now new predictions which indicate that the graduate labor force will shrink at the same time, leaving more Uni students without jobs following their graduation.
The figures are fairly shocking; 30 percent of Uni students, which equals around 64,000 people, will remain out of work up to four months after their graduation. And even those that do manage to find work will be earning less.
The predictions are significantly bleaker than similar predictions made twelve months ago. Whereas students in 2016-2017 were once predicted to attain a 78% employment rate immediately upon completion of studies, now that predicted rate has fallen to 70%. This is in line with new data that predicts the overall unemployment rate for the country will rise to 6.25% by July of next year.
Graduates being out of work for four months might not seem like an enormous deal on paper, but when combined with the fact that the Government’s updated policies for the Newstart allowance means that young people may not be able to access Government income assistance during those four months, even if they are in dire need of it, it makes for unneeded added stresses on an already stressful period of uncertainty for many new graduates.
Photo: Christopher Furlong via Getty Images.
via SMH.
