By Tracy Sorensen
SYDNEY — Training people for jobs that don't exist is a "cruel game", says the social justice group Young Christian Workers. Labor's claim that the economy will turn around, creating the need for highly skilled young workers, is dubious, says the group, considering that unemployment remained high throughout the boom of the 1980s.
The YCW has published a booklet, Competency for Living, a special response to the ACTU-backed Carmichael Report, which is expected to be a key feature in Paul Keating's Jobs Summit in Canberra on July 22.
The Carmichael Report proposes that all 15-19 year olds be involved in training schemes on a minimum "training wage" or allowance. Young people could find themselves working two or three days a week (if they are lucky) and going to a TAFE for the remainder of the week, building up employer-designed units of "competency".
Training as the only solution to high unemployment unfairly personalises the problem, says YCW. "At the moment there are 37 applicants for every job available, and this will not change a great deal regardless of an improvement of the economy." The unemployment rate is expected, even by the optimists, to remain above 8% after the recession, with youth unemployment much higher.
The Carmichael Report's suggested $117 per week minimum wage/allowance is a violation of human rights, says YCW. The group calculates that the cost of living for a young worker, engaged in study and living at home with no dependents, is around $227 per week. The official poverty line is $186.16.
A system like that envisaged by Carmichael would devalue on-the-job training and undermine young workers' confidence, YCW worker Susan Hennessy told Â鶹´«Ã½.
"The training that a 16-year-old traditionally got by working five days a week, becoming more confident and building up self-esteem, might be lost" in the two and a half or three days a week spent in a classroom.
Hennessy points to her own work history as beyond the reach of school leavers today: "I started as a 16-year-old in an office, and by the time I was 25 I was earning a decent income with a large multinational organisation, without any additional education other than what my employers sent me to."
Another YCW worker, Jo Magri, says that an emphasis on training is not a bad thing in itself. But the policies of both major parties ignore what should be the bottom line: the dignity and living standards of individuals. The Liberals' proposed minimum rate of $3 an hour was simply a figure taken out of the air in an attempt to "outdo Labor", Magri said. "It's not like they've tried to find a real solution. It's just a shock-horror thing, and the employers, like McDonald's, are really backing it."
Age makes no difference to the cost of living. "The train fare is still $5 to the city, food is still the same as if you are earning top wages, everything is still the same, so you need a wage to live off."
The YCW points out that all the talk about training obscures the fact that a lot of jobs require very little training at all.
Competency for Living outlines the case of Michael from Granville, who works at a metal recycling depot serving customers and sorting and processing metals. His wage per week is $290, which has not increased since he started there two years ago. Training took up the first two days on the job. Introducing the idea of a "training wage" to circumstances like these, says YCW, is "an invitation to abuse".
The booklet points out that the Carmichael Report ignores the trend to casual labour. As the cost to employers of training employees declines (as on-the-job training becomes a thing of the past), it becomes increasingly attractive for employers to hire casual workers.
More and more people are doing without the security, career development, sick pay and other benefits of permanent employment, said Magri.
"Everyone has the right to live a dignified life", says Magri. "We ask: 'Where are the contradictions in the system that prevent that?' Through our actions, we attempt to overcome those contradictions."
The YCW will send a delegation to the Alternative Jobs Summit at Parliament House on July 22.