Young People, Ethnicity, and Work (original) (raw)

1998, Against the Odds: Young People and Work, J. Bessant & S. Cook, ACYS Publications

ê Young people, ethnicity and work I\URfNG THE late part of 1995 and early 7996, The Austalian newspaper ran a series of I f articles on the plight of young people, and raised concems about the lack of work lJ avallable and the poor working conditions which young people are experiencing (Hughes 1996; Eccleston 1995). Since the early l970s, Australia has experienced periods of recession and dramatic economic restructuring. Although most Australians have felt the repercussions of these changes, it has been the young people of Australia who have bome the greater personal, social and economic cost. During this period, the nature of work has also changed dramatically. Consequently, fo¡ an inc¡easing number of young people, the transition from school to work has become more problematic. The pulpos€ of this chapter is to explore how "ethnic youth" have fared under these conditions and what kind of relationship, if any, exists between youth, ethnicity and work. In other words, if rvork has become more difficult to find for young people in general, and the work they have found is tenuous and exploitative, what can we say about the plight of young ethnic people in this environment? I will explore tJris question, first, by briefly examining the conceptual problems behind the category of "ethnic youth"; second, by summarising the statistical data on young ethnic people; and ñnall¡ by analysing how partiorlar approaches have interpreted this data and the kinds of knowledge they generate.