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Younger millennial and generation Z workers are more likely to be unemployed because of their attitudes, not age discrimination, a new study suggests.

Australia’s unemployment rate fell to 3.6 percent in September, from 3.7 percent in August.

But the youth unemployment rate, at 8.1 percent, is more than double the general unemployment rate, continuing a depressing trend.

This is despite the fact that the labor market has generated some of the lowest unemployment rates since mid-2022 since 1974, even though interest rates have increased 12 times since then.

The e61 Institute published an article claiming that young people were more likely to become unemployed because they left their job without getting another one.

“Youth unemployment is much higher because they are more likely to leave their jobs voluntarily,” say paper authors Zachary Hayward and Matt Nolan.

Young workers aged 15 to 24 are twice as likely to leave their job after a short period.

This meant that those with qualifications left in search of better paying jobs.

‘These results are explained by a combination of personal characteristics of the worker, such as education, and characteristics of the job, such as seniority,” the paper said.

Those who were fired were simply let go because they lacked experience.

“A lot of the risk of being fired comes from being new to the company and having a low level of education,” he said.

“This is not necessarily employer discrimination due to age, but rather factors often related to age.”

But they argued that younger workers were actually less likely than their older baby boomer colleagues to be laid off.

“Young Australians are less likely to involuntarily lose their jobs but are as likely to find one as older Australians,” the paper said.

“Young workers are as likely to find a job as older workers.”

At the height of Australia’s Covid lockdowns in 2020, youth unemployment stood at 16.4 per cent, more than double the general unemployment rate of 7.4 per cent, which was then the highest since 1998.

At the time, New South Wales Young Labor – which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led in the mid-1980s – released a video complaining about young people having to work in retail.

Belinda Thomas, then 19, appeared in the Facebook video, complaining about having to apply for retail jobs when she wanted to become a classical musician.

“Unable to use my 12 years of training as a classical musician to find a job, I ended up sending out about ten applications for retail jobs and only found one by chance,” she declared.

However, those who are employed suffer a decline in their real wages as pay levels fail to keep pace with inflation.

The wage price index of 3.6 percent in the last financial year was well below the inflation rate of 6 percent, which meant those in employment suffered an effective pay cut of 2 percent. .4 percent.

Job search data showed that the niche science and technology sector is the only category out of 28 where more jobs were advertised in September compared to August.

Belinda Thomas, then 19, appeared in the Facebook video, complaining about having to apply for retail jobs when she wanted to become a classical musician.

Kendra Banks, chief executive of Seek, said data showed job seekers still faced increased competition.

“Applications per job posting continue to increase, but the pace has slowed, which could indicate that application activity is stabilizing after months of growth,” she said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said although the unemployment rate had fallen, the government still expected it to rise to 4.5 per cent by mid-2025.

“We still expect the unemployment rate to increase,” he said.

“The story of our labor market is one of remarkable resilience, but it is starting to weaken.”