Meet The Youthful Components Of A Cruel Statistic
The Age
Wednesday August 26, 1998
``They never even ring you back. You get your hopes up and you don't get nothing."
So says David, 15, unemployed and part of the face of despair in Melbourne's struggling western suburbs.
His friend Zannon, 19, knows the lines by heart: ``You're either too young, too old, or don't have the qualifications."
The teenager's frustration was echoed yesterday by other unemployed youths ``hanging out" at the Highpoint shopping centre in Maribyrnong. Labor force figures released this week show that 35.6per cent of youths in the suburb cannot find jobs, well ahead of the national average of 29.9per cent.
In July, the north-west of Melbourne had the highest rate of youth unemployment in the nation, with 58.8per cent of people aged 15 to 19 out of work.
Mr Jim Markovski, an Open Family youth worker based at Highpoint, said the community needed to stop labelling some young people as ``trouble".
Many of those who left school early did so because problems at home created problems at school, leading to a downward spiral of disruption. It was not that the teenagers were bad, he said. They had never been given a chance.
``No one's ever taken the care to give them the extra intensive support that they need to get on to their feet," Mr Markovski said.
The teenagers say it is hard to survive on the dole. They sleep at each other's homes, borrow money and share food when they have it.
Worst is the boredom. If they hang out on the streets, the police hassle them. If they hang out in shopping malls, security guards move them on.
Simon, 18, arrived as a refugee from Iran one year ago. He's desperate for a job - ``mechanic, coffee shop, you name it" - but so far all he has had is rejection.
For Daniel, 15, life is about ``trying to stay out of trouble and get a job".
``There's nowhere to go," says Beren, 19.
Daniel owns one outfit but does his best to scrub up for job interviews. He has had short-term jobs at a car yard and at a wrecker's, but the businesses went bust.
His ambition is to work as a car salesman. Does he think it will happen? ``I want it to," he says. ``I really want it to."
© 1998 The Age