The annual Whitelion jobs campaign is on again today and I am proud to support it for another year.
In its sixth year, this year’s Whitelion `job pledge’ is aiming to secure 30 jobs in three hours for young Tasmanians.
Addressing youth unemployment is a priority for the Hodgman Liberal Government, which has always supported the important work of Whitelion.
The government has contributed $300,000 to Whitelion, for a three year Youth Employment Partnership to tackle high youth unemployment rates and to assist young people into work.
This program has already assisted more than 50 young people into work and helped many more become job ready or re-engage with education opportunities.
Government funding for Whitelion is in addition to the over $400 million to support industry and job creation in the state budget.
Whitelion links business, community and the government, to provide mentoring and employment programs to build a brighter future for young Tasmanians.
It assists young people to develop positive goals around education, training and employment, as well as assistance and training in life skills such as building self-esteem and managing money.
The state’s youth unemployment rate (those aged 15 to 24) remains too high at 15.1 per cent, with the national average at 12.4 per cent.
This is why the annual Whitelion event is so important, as more than 170 jobs have been pledged over the six years of the campaign.
Over 75 per cent of all Whitelion placements achieve ongoing sustainable employment of a minimum 13-weeks at 20 hours per week.
While information about each participant is not available, a number of young people and employers have stayed in touch and we have been able to track the success of several over the past five years.
Several young people are still employed at the same company and have progressed into leadership and management roles.
This is a great outcome and I hope to hear of many more success stories in the future as this program continues.
There is no silver bullet for job creation which is why the Government has taken a multi-faceted approach working across sectors, with industry and with organisations such as Whitelion.