You need experience to get a job, and you need a job to get experience: the modern conundrum of our young jobseekers

As we move to a knowledge and service-based economy, employers demand more education and skills from all workers, and low-skilled entry-level opportunities for young people are declining.

The insightful piece, on Australia’s growing youth unemployment crisis , by three senior members of the Brotherhood of St Laurence details the setbacks faced by young people when the jobs market fails to offer enough opportunities.

“Early experiences of unemployment can have debilitating and lasting consequences for young job seekers, which include ongoing poverty, poor health and exclusion from mainstream economic, civic and social life.

The authors – Sally James and Diane Brown, and Farah Farouque are also aware that statistics and research can’t tell the whole story.

Young people themselves must be heard, they say, and their concerns and hopes should be listened to carefully. For this reason the article begins with Troy, who in 2014 – as an unemployed 19-year-old – stepped out of his comfort zone to speak publicly on the challenges he and many others encounter when searching for work in a rapidly changing world.

To learn more read the full article, and find out how Troy’s story ends.