Time Without Work Falls 38%

The median duration of unemployment has dropped from 26 weeks in July 1998 to 16 weeks in July 2003, a fall of 38% in the median period without work. These and other results were released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (www.abs.gov.au) for their annual survey of Job Search Experience.

The age barrier, which is supposed not to exist according to discrimination laws, was apparent to a significant number of both young and old job seekers. In July 2003, 13% of unemployed persons reported their main difficulty in finding work as being 'considered too young or too old by employers'.

In the 45 to 54 age bracket it's 30% who are unemployed because employers consider them too old. The median duration of unemployment for those who reported they were considered to be too young or too old by employers' was 29 weeks compared to 16 weeks for all unemployed persons. Retrenchment packages which include six months pay do not appear overly generous if it takes this long to get re-employed.

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