November 18, 2014 
9 Comments 
An income and wealth report from AMP and the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (AMP.NATSEM) has found that as the baby boomer generation retires, Australia will see a significant amount of skills and experience move out of the workplace.
“As older people leave the workforce they will take with them skills and experience, while many young people are struggling to find work. As a consequence, it might mean that younger people are not getting the experience they need to do these jobs in the future,” said AMP Chief Customer Officer Paul Sainsbury.
As the baby boomer generation moves towards retirement, the proportion of people aged 65 and over is expected to be around a quarter of the total population by 2050.
Young people under the age of 20 are currently 4.5 times more likely to be unemployed than the rest of Australia’s working population. Couple that statistic with the Government’s proposed plans to deregulate tertiary education, and the outlook for Australia’s professional occupation industries looks bleak.
However, the good news is that the report also found that women now represent the majority in four out of the eight occupation groups which are measured by the Australian Census. From 1991 to 2011, there has also been a healthy increase in female participation in part-time employment – from 52 per cent to 61 per cent.
Other key findings of the report include:
- Australia is in the top 10 countries in the world when it comes to low unemployment
- the most common types of work have shifted from factory and farming to professional and administrative.
The report shows significant shifts in Australia’s income and industry over the years, and according to Mr Sainsbury, “highlights the challenges of an ageing population”.
“With lower birth rates and much longer life expectancy, it is critically important for people to adequately plan for their future so they not only enjoy a comfortable retirement, but also [that] Australia remains prosperous as the workforce composition changes,” Mr Sainsbury said.
View the AMP.NATSEM report
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If the older generation are not allowed to retire due to government restrictions, there will be no natural movement in the workforce for the younger people to ‘fill in the gaps’ left by the departing Retiree’s. There will be a natural damming effect and the result will be an ever growing pool of younger persons who will never get ‘experience’ and will forever be unemployed. But all this doesn’t matter to a right wing government, their attitude will be the same as it has always been, “It just the peasants complaining again, they know nothing and will do as we say, they know we know best”.
Yep ! You cant put an Old Head on Young Shoulders !!
When I started working at the tender age of 18 in 1978, “successive management” were the buzz words of that time and for the most part, it was happening.
During my working life, I have been lucky enough to impart a lot of the skills and knowledge that I have in my head to the younger generation as I employed trainees and apprentices.
This sort of management seems to have gone by the wayside in recent decades. Governments, both Labor and Liberal always wave the “training and apprenticeships” flag every election, but all we seem to see is schools & TAFEs closing and University fees skyrocketing.
How are our young people supposed to progress in life, when this is happening? They are a lost generation now, turning to their mobile phones and apps and living in some kind of cyber world without any idea of what is going on in the real world!
I feel very sad for them and wonder what future they will have.
Certainly nothing like the Australia that I grew up in.
We will Import it or them from China ! Under the New Trade Agreements !!
Yes, that is the plan. Make us work for a bowl of rice.
We are now officially a third world country!
Enjoy your Rice with Half a Sardine on top !!
Having employed young people I found that they think that they can talk on their mobiles constantly or sit on facebook all day. Their productivity is very low as a result. I would choose older workers in the light of this.
Yes, I agree. some of the young ones do want to just sit on their mobiles or computers on FB or whatever.
I employed young people too and it is hard to instill a good work ethic, if their parents haven’t given them any idea how to behave in the workplace.
And having taught in a classroom full of Year 11 teenagers it was frustrating, to say the least. But there was about half of the class who were willing to learn.
Youth definitely cannot replace experience, but after a proper training they will gain need experience. Also, the young tend to be more creative and enthusiastic – that’s an advantage for a company, the only thing it should do is use it smartly. Additionally, if a company keeps firing people because they are not up to their standards, it will loose more – additional material and human resources will be spent on hiring and training new staff.
Moreover, if a person isn’t keen on working in a particular company and spends all her/his time on Facebook, it could also mean that the company is not worth spending time on. Everyone knows there is a problem, but no one’s doing something to understand why the young prefer Facebook to working at the company. Probably, the company does not take needs of the youth into account.