Youth jobs on the rise in Wannon

Ms Edge, 23, had previously worked as a teacher’s assistant in London and searched for ongoing work for about six months until early this year when she landed a 12-month traineeship doing reception and administration at Warrnambool Hydraulics.

Warrnambool Hydraulics’ Chris Errey said he would look to employ  Ms Edge after she completed the traineeship.

Member for Wannon Dan Tehan said Ms Edge was part of the milestone of one million people placed in employment with the help of the federal government’s employment programs.

In Ms Edge’s case, she undertook the PaTH job preparation program provided through Westvic Staffing Solutions that helps participants with job search skills and writing resumes.

Mr Tehan said youth unemployment had dropped in Wannon from about 16 per cent four years ago to about seven per cent recently.

He said 6013 of the million job placements were in Wannon, showing the government’s employment polices were working locally.

He said jobs growth in Australia in 2017 was the best year on record.

“That growth is continuing into this year with the number of jobs in Australia increasing for a 17th straight month in February — the longest consecutive run of jobs growth ever,” Mr Tehan said.

Westvic Staffing Solutions chief executive Dean Luciani said the PaTH program had been hugely successful in preparing young people for the workforce.

Westvic Staffing Solutions has helped about 580 young people gain employment skills through the PaTH program provided at its offices in western Victoria. 

PaTH participants do two blocks of training, each three weeks in duration.

Mr Tehan encouraged businesses in Wannon seeking employees to register with a government employment program. 

The programs were making a real difference to many people in Wannon by “helping them to get a foot in the door,” he said.