Less than an hour before his job interview, Ashley McKinnon received a text message from his friend saying he could no longer drive him to avoid a two-hour trip on public transport.
Ashley, 18, had arranged to pay his mate $10 for a lift because the interview was a half-hour drive away from where he lives in Melbourne's outer suburbs.
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Limited transport frustrating the young and unemployed
Two young job seekers living on the edges of Melbourne and Sydney talk about their difficulties travelling to job interviews.
"I was really disappointed. My dad works and all my other mates are at work and there wasn't much I could really do. It was a job I really wanted," Ashley said.
"It would have taken two hours to get there on public transport."
![Ashley McKinnon who has struggled with a lack of transport to get to job interviews.](/web/20161123132616im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/t/d/4/z/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gssb7f.png/1479670370582.jpg)
A new report to be released on Monday reveals limited public transport is a major barrier preventing young people from getting and keeping a job.
Youth unemployment is close to 13 per cent – double the national jobless rate – and is concentrated in regional areas and fast-growing outer suburbs which have some of the poorest public transport links.
Tony Nicholson, the executive director for the Brotherhood of St Laurence, which completed the report: U-Turn: The transport woes of Australia's young jobseekers, said the greatest concentrations of unemployed young people are on the outskirts of major cities and in country areas where jobs are few. The bulk of job opportunities are hard to access in the cities.
The new analysis of the annual Household Labour Income and Family Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey of more than 13,000 people nationally shows 61 per cent of young people aged under 25 lacked a driver's licence and up to a quarter cite transport issues as a key barrier to getting a job.
"The issue about transport to get young people connected to jobs is as critical as their training and education to match them to employers," Mr Nicholson said.
"If they don't have transport to look for work then maintain it, their education and training counts for nothing. This hasn't been given enough attention in strategies to tackle youth unemployment."
Mr Nicholson said one of the most common complaints his agency has received from young people is a lack of transport.
"This research highlights the extent of the problem and the fact that if we are going to be successful in reducing youth unemployment we need to have a multi-pronged attack on it. One area that hasn't been given enough attention is the transport challenge that is faced by young people," he said.
Taking a taxi to his job interview was out of the question for Ashley who earns about $65 per week from his job at Woolworths and receives a $230 fortnightly top-up from Centrelink.
From his home in Langwarrin, on the urban fringe of Melbourne, 42 km south-east of the CBD, Ashley would need to walk 15 minutes to the nearest bus stop and take a series of buses to Narre Warren, allowing 15 to 20 minutes between each connection.
Ashley completed year 12 last year and has a Certificate III in Information Technology. But he will consider university if he can't find a job in IT.
"It is an industry I am really passionate about. If I can't learn to drive, I will have to get a trade job," he said.
"Finding a job on the Frankston to Cranbourne bus line is all I can look for."
Ashley is keen to learn to drive but can't get his licence because he doesn't know anyone who can supervise his driving and he can't afford to take driving lessons. There is a nine-month waiting list for a program which could help him get that supervision.
"People coming out of school without a driver's licence are going to find it really difficult to find jobs," he said.
Learner drivers need to log 120 hours of supervised driving in NSW and Victoria - a challenge for disadvantaged households with one adult driver or no vehicle. Mr Nicholson said the number of hours required were inconsistent across the country with only 50 hours of supervised driving required in West Australia.
"There appears to be no universal standard," he said. "If we are going to get better at getting young people into work, we have to revisit nationally the requirements for training for drivers licences and the burden that falls unreasonably on more disadvantaged households in the outskirts of country areas."
With more affordable housing to be found in outer suburbs and regional areas, youth unemployment, poverty and exclusion were becoming more highly concentrated there.
"Transport becomes a critical issue and it hasn't been given enough attention in the strategy so far to tackle youth unemployment," Mr Nicholson said.
While local councils had programs to help young people get driving licences, their availability depended on the supply of community volunteers to supervise driving lessons.
"I think we need a fundamental relook at the way in which the burden of getting a drivers licence is falling heavily upon disadvantaged households and young people in the outskirts of city and country areas," Mr Nicholson said.
The Brotherhood of St Laurence report said the high proportion of young people without a licence meant they were particularly reliant on public transport.
The report showed that lack of experience, education and training were the main employment barriers for more than 40 per cent of people aged under 25. Transport was an issue for 25.1 per cent.
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