Coronavirus pushes millennials to re-skill or face years of wage inequality - ABC News

Millennials face carrying the biggest economic scars from the coronavirus fallout with fears over the lifelong impact on young people's wages.

Key points:

• 11.8 per cent of jobs for those under 30 have disappeared since March
• Women are expected to face a higher rate of unemployment than men
• Graduates might land a job but it probably won't match up with their skillset

The class of 2020 have officially graduated into Australia's first recession in 29 years.

Since the pandemic's peak in mid-March, 11.8 per cent of the jobs for those under 30 have disappeared.

The Grattan Institute estimates those aged 15 to 24 will be the hardest hit by the unemployment crisis, with women more at risk than men.

Elana Andrews-Marney received her Bachelor of Advanced Medical Science with distinction from Western Sydney University in the post a few weeks ago.

It was a much simpler affair than the usual pomp and pageantry of a graduation ceremony due to social distancing requirements.

In March, she was assisting on dementia clinical trials with a cognitive neuroscientist but when labs closed, she joined the millions of Australians out of work.

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"Research with the university relies mostly on casual contracts so when the research projects got shut down overnight people just immediately lost their income," she said.

"It just hit me that I could be indefinitely unemployed until labs are open again."

Elana Andrews-Marney will now take her career in a different direction.(Supplied: Sally Tsoutas)

But even as the economy plunges, education is still an investment that pays off.

A study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that anyone with a bachelor's degree in Australia earns on average nearly $350,000 more over the course of their life than someone who holds only a high school qualification.

And the Reserve Bank's chief head of economic analysis Alexandra Heath says the rate of new graduates finding a job has kept steady.

However the jobs those graduates are landing, don't necessarily match up with their skillset.

Read more about coronavirus:

Sink or swim

Ms Andrews-Marney is already planning to pivot her career into a clinical setting to hopefully secure employment.

"The pandemic has highlighted how insecure a lot of work in research is whereas clinical work and healthcare is something that provides a little bit more stability," she said.

"I've resolved I'll need to take a very different path in order to get back to my passion. I have to immediately uproot my plans and make it happen a different way."

The pandemic's effect on millennials has been uncompromising.

Andrew Clark, 34, finished his three-year apprenticeship in signwriting in March just as the outbreak of COVID-19 began.

Although his passion is in photography, he was drawn to the trade because it was secure but still creative.

Andrew Clark is nervous his skills will deteriorate and re-entering the workforce will be harder.(Supplied: Andrew Clark)

"People need signs for everything from national parks to road signs — there's always work. It was something I could always fall back on I thought."

He was shocked when his manager asked him to move to casual as work slowed.

"Since that day my boss asked me to go casual, I actually haven't got any shifts. I haven't heard anything from him for two months.

"The longer I'm not working in that trade, the more likely I'll forget the stuff I've learnt which worries me."

Assistant Vice Chancellor of Western Sydney University Andy Marks is concerned about the lifelong impact on young people's wages.

Andy Mark says the gender pay gap may only worsen now.(Supplied)

"There's been really big labour market dislocation and young people who are entering the workforce are generally the first to be impacted and regrettably also the first to be let go," he said.

As one of the largest trainers of nurses in Australia, the university is particularly concerned about the wage growth for people in essential fields like health as this will only deepen gender inequities.

"While we'll see a recovery in three to five years, I don't expect to see movement in wages for another 18 months," Mr Marks said.

"It's all too unfortunate that nurses are often poorly paid, and they're often over-represented by women, and we're concerned that the profound gender imbalance in pay will not be addressed."

Last week nurses across NSW protested a proposed freeze on public sector wages and research from the Centre for Future Work notes temporary freezes can result in tens of thousands in lost income if employers don't make catch-up increases in following years.

Blacktown Hospital nurses took to the streets to protest against the wage freeze.(ABC News: Mridula Amin)

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2020-06-05 21:21:00Z
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