With the Illawarra’s youth unemployment above the NSW average, doing nothing is simply not an option.
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That’s the attitude at the centre of a new state government approach to curb the problem – dubbed the Illawarra Youth Employment Strategy (YES).
While the Illawarra YES is “not a silver bullet”, it will – for the first time – provide a combined government, non-government and private sector approach to offering young people pathways to employment.
The strategy was launched by parliamentary secretary for the Illawarra Gareth Ward in Kiama on Friday.
“In our region, youth unemployment is still four per cent higher than the state average and doing nothing will result in nothing,” Mr Ward told the Mercury.
“This Youth Employment Strategy isn’t a silver bullet but what it does do is bring people together … to connect young people into the jobs of today and tomorrow.”
In just a couple of weeks, the first offering of jobs under the program will come from ClubsNSW, one of its partners.
The region’s councils, the University of Wollongong, the Illawarra Business Chamber and the Illawarra Disability Alliance are among the other organisations involved.
“We need to get employers to realise that focusing on young people, giving people a future, is important to this region,” he said.
“What this strategy seeks to do is bring people to the table, get them to acknowledge this is an issue and target young people for future job opportunities in their organisations.”
The Illawarra Pilot Joint Organisation of councils – incorporating Wollongong, Shellharbour, Kiama and Shoalhaven – have committed to setting up a youth employment fund to assist with the strategy’s implementation.
The launch comes on the back of the release of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data that revealed 9200 jobs were created in the Illawarra, which includes the Southern Highlands, during the 12 months to June.