Australia's youth bore brunt of crisis

AAP

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AUSTRALIA'S youth bore the brunt of the financial downturn, while older workers experienced relative increases in salaries and job stability, a new survey shows.

At the same time, young people increased their spending despite job losses and smaller salary gains, suggesting they are more optimistic about the future.

The 18 to 24 year-old age group experienced relatively higher unemployment, significant losses in full-time employment and lower salary payments than other age groups in the 12 months to December 2009, the inaugural Viewpoint economic vitality report reveals.

The quarterly survey, released by the Commonwealth Bank and the University of Canberra, showed young workers received the lowest overall increase in salary payments, of 2.1 per cent, which was just ahead of inflation.

"Younger workers, with lower levels of skills and experience, may not be able to negotiate pay increases during a period of economic downturn, or ... are more likely than older workers to have their hours reduced," the survey said.

In stark contrast, salaries among those aged 25 to 44 increased by 4.9 per cent and by 5.8 per cent for those aged 45 to 54.

Those aged between 55 to 64 received the highest salary increase, of 8.1 per cent.

In absolute terms, 18 to 24 year olds received the smallest monthly salary payments into their accounts, just half of that received by the earning group aged 35 to 44 years.

The figures also showed that by December 2009, one in six people in the labour force aged between 15 and 19 were unemployed.

That age group experienced a drop in full-time employment of 8.9 per cent - a drop 18 times greater than for the overall working population, data based on January's Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) labour force survey found.

Even so, 18 to 24 year olds increased their spend by 6.2 per cent in December 2009, compared with December the year before.

"Their average salary payments barely covered the average increase in prices over the period while their average card spends increased at a much higher rate," the report said.

"This may have been affected by their more optimistic view about the economy."