NEW research has indicated that teenagers employment chances are influenced heavily by the neighbourhood they live in.

The Murdoch-based Centre of Labour Market Research (which is a consortium of WA’s four public universities and the Australian National University) has found that teenagers living around people lacking education and jobs are more likely to follow in their footsteps.

After surveys of the Perth and Melbourne metropolitan areas, Centre Director Phil Lewis and Research Fellow Ross Kelly identified a definite pattern by breaking regions into neighbourhoods of 250 houses.

“Young people are very influenced by the society immediately surrounding them and areas of high unemployment and low education tend to be concentrated into some neighbourhoods,” said Professor Lewis.

Professor Lewis believes that this information could enable resources such as youth centres and education to be prioritised towards these neighbourhoods, which would have a huge impact on the unemployment burden suffered by these teenagers.

“When you exclude the number of teenagers who are studying or working part-time, the youth unemployment rate is only about five per cent,” he said.

“However the problem is that most of the five percent live in concentrated patches scattered throughout the metropolitan area.”

Youth unemployment has been an ongoing research project for the Centre of Labour Market Research since its formation in 1984.

Controversial research about youth labour has surfaced from the Centre during this period, such as the benefit of lower wage rates for the youth workforce and the usefulness of the new Job Network.

Youth unemployment is just one area of interest for the centre, which analyses the issues and dispels the myths about the labour market in Australia and the Asia Pacific region.

By providing a comprehensive and independent analysis of the workforce, the Centre’s research promotes significant debate and discussion throughout the community and is used as a reference tool for decision-makers.