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Migration is a global phenomenon, one that includes adults, youth and children alike. And Australia is a country built on migration with almost 50% of our population either a first-born or second-born migrant. Migration poses both opportunities and challenges for the migrants themselves, their families and also for the receiving countries. This is particularly applicable to migrants from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds and even more pertinent for a subset of this group, those who migrate as refugees or asylum seekers or have refugee ancestry. 2
This slide points out some of the key indicators of Australia s diversity. Note that almost one in five Australians speak a language other than English at home. 3
CALD youth for the purposes of this report refers to individuals living in Australia aged 12 to 24 years who identify as having a specific cultural or linguistic affiliation by virtue of their place of birth or by their parental heritage (that is they have at least one parent who was born in a CALD country and/or they nominated a CALD country of ancestry at the point of the Australian census. A subset of these population groups is those individuals aged 12 to 24 years who are considered to have migrated as a refugee or have a refugee ancestry. The report contains a list of all countries identified as being Culturally and Linguistically Diverse at Appendix One and while it is not possible to identify populations by visa category using the ABS Census data, a list of the identified Refugee countries used in this report and the methodology for defining them, in the report at Appendix Two. As you can see from this slide 1 in 4 youth identify as having come from a CALD background, and the growth rate within this cohort is three times greater than the national average. 4
This graph highlights the increased growth in the CALD youth population over time, with an increase from just under 12 percent in 2001 to over 16% in 2011 for those aged 15 to 29 years. 5
Now if we turn to the figures for Queensland, we can see that compared to the figures for Australia on the previous slide the proportion of the 12 to 24 year age population who are from a CALD background is lower than the national average of 25% but the growth rate is higher at 4.6% compared to 3.2% for Australia. 6
Education is an essential part of successful integration for migrant and refugee youth and is crucial for preparing youth of all backgrounds to be productive and welladjusted members of society. Since 2010 students were required to continue their education until 17, either at school or through some combination of training and employment in most Australian states and territories, therefore it is expected that most youth aged 12-17 will be represented in census data either as a full time or part time student. This slide compares the percentage for Australia to the percentage for Queensland for different groups of the youth population. Figures are roughly comparable across birthplace groups, but also between the state and national figures, although you will note that the figures are slightly higher for both CALD born and CALD ancestry than they are for other population groups and this higher participation rate is more noticeable in the older 18 to 24 age group, with those youth aged 18 to 24 born in a CALD country in Queensland twice as likely to be in higher education compared to their Australian-born counterparts. 7
Workforce participation of migrant youth is one of the indicators used in the assessment of their economic contributions to Australian society, and gaining employment is contingent on many factors including education, skill levels, opportunity and English proficiency. Gaining and retaining employment is one example of how language barriers can result in CALD and refugee youth becoming marginalised and/or socially isolated. ABS data suggests that compared with recent migrants from a mainly English-speaking culture, migrants from a non-englishspeaking culture were less likely to be employed and many of these cited language difficulties as being a major barrier to finding work. English proficiency among migrants was also linked to higher incomes and higher levels of education. In turn, these outcomes have an impact on a young person s ability to integrate into mainstream Australian culture, as those with English proficiency have the means to more fully participate and engage both with their local community and the wider Australian society. On this slide we can see that, despite the over representation of CALD youth in education there is a distinct under-representation in employment particularly compared to the Australian-born youth cohort with the most marginalised group for both Australia as a whole and for Queensland being refugee-born youth. Under half of the youth born in CALD countries (44.5%) and one-third of youth born in refugee countries (33.2%) compared with 71.6 percent of youth born in Australian were employed in full or part-time employment. However, the data suggests that this gap narrows for second-born generations with higher rates of workforce participation 8
evident for youth with CALD and refugee ancestry. It must be remembered that while these figures represent youth in part-time and fulltime work there are also issues for those who are in employment related to under-employment and skills matching. The relationship between these figures and those for education raise serious issues about the current pathways from education to employment over-representation in higher education is clearly not being transferred through to employment outcomes. We need to look more carefully at the detail of both education and employment to further understand why there is a such a mis-match between the two. 8
Having said that it is important to consider this younger CALD population group as invaluable to the future productivity of Australia. CALD youth represent one in four of this younger population group, they have high participation rates in education and as Australia begins to feel the impact of an ageing population, with the baby boomer generation withdrawing from the workforce in coming decades this population group, overall well-educated but underemployed, becomes absolutely critical to Australia s productivity. 9
Turning now and consider some more general aspects of this CALD youth population group: All migration is age selective the system favours the young, particularly in a country like Australia which has tight controls on entry to the country and that favours skilled migrants. As such youth who are from a CALD background are a critical part of Australia s future, representing one in four people aged 12 to 24 years. There is much evidence that this younger CALD group, particularly those from a refugee background, experience intergenerational upward mobility that is they do better than their parents and grandparents over time. However, this does not mean that this population group does not face significant challenges as seen on this slide. 10
The last dot point on the last slide highlighted Location as a potential challenge for younger CALD people. Location may seem an odd challenge to some but increasingly we see regions and areas which are under-resourced and under-serviced but where certain population groups with needs are over-represented. Population trends at the local level can fluctuate widely from trends at the state and national levels. The advantage of using Australian Census data to understand different population groups is that it is linked to small geographic areas, enabling us to map and understand population distributions at the spatial level. This is very useful for targeting services, and for understanding any localised dimensions to disadvantage. 11
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It must be remembered that there is great a diversity in ethnicities within both the CALD and Refugee population groups which not only requires a range of nuanced services and resources but which also translates into different settlement patterns that need to be understood more fully. This requires accurate, representative and relevant information to fully inform new policies and programs. The Australian Population and Housing Census goes a long way towards providing some of this information. However, there is still a need for more in-depth understanding of the issues. It is together, as researchers, policy makers, service providers, representative bodies such as MYAN and migrant community groups that we can work together towards more effective solutions, policies and programs to ensure good outcomes for all CALD youth in Australia. 13