It Takes Young Australians 4.7 Years To Find Full-Time Work After School, Research Finds

(*Nervously pulls shirt collar.*)

The Foundation for Young Australians has released their annual report card for 2015 and the outlook is... well...

A lot of their findings have already been reported on this site and elsewhere, such as the prediction that 70 per cent of entry-level jobs for young people will likely be automated in the future, and, even more terrifyingly, that 60 per cent of young people are studying for jobs that will be dramatically altered by automation. (Blast you, robots! Always making our lives easier!)

However, the report also found that it's now taking young people, on average, 4.7 years to enter full-time work after leaving full-time education (and 2.7 years to find any kind of work). In 1986, it took only one year. So, yeah.

Another distressing finding: 35 per cent of 15-year-olds are not digitally literate; this, despite 90 per cent of future jobs requiring digital literacy.

(Not in the report but chilling nonetheless is the recent revelation that young people can't hang up landline phones.)

Click to enlarge.

Young Australians are also woefully under-equipped when it comes to STEM subjects like science, technology, engineering and maths.

The report suggests 75 per cent of future jobs will involve STEM, and yet, 35 per cent of 15-year-olds are not proficient in either science or technology and 42 per cent are not proficient in maths. The majority of Indigenous young people are not proficient in these skills either. As a country, Australia is "getting worse" and slipping in the international rankings for maths, science and reading proficiency.

Unfortunately, yes.

Thirty per cent of 15-year-olds are not financially literate and 35 per cent are not proficient in problem solving.

Okay, onto the good news.

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As we discussed earlier in the week (amidst another bummer of an article all about Aussie youth being terrified of the future), the FYA found that young people are staying in education longer, to prepare themselves for the "higher skilled work of the future." This indicates that young people are, at the very least, preparing for the changes to come; hopefully the next report will see a more positive swing in the other direction on everything from STEM proficiency to corded-phone familiarity.

Also, take note: the FYA believes young people will have "17 jobs over five careers throughout their lifetime."

As Sufjan Stevens once sang: "It's a long life, better pinch yourself."

Infographics supplied by the Foundation for Young Australians.