People (especially people from low socioeconomic communities or families) can face multiple and complex barriers to work.
Looking for work can be a soul-destroying undertaking for someone that is trying their hardest to find employment. It is often stated that ‘unemployed people don’t have jobs because they just don’t want to work’ and that might be the case for a small percentage but is not the case for most unemployed people. When we break it down into the individual barriers that some of these people face, it is understandable that they can feel overwhelmed and disheartened.
A job is life changing, and everyone deserves a chance.
Individual Barriers
- Disability
- No experience
- Mental illness
- Access to transport
- Lack of education
- Bias
- Lack of self worth
- Social isolation
- Criminal record
- Housing issues or homelessness
Systemic Barriers
- Lack of flexible work options
- Lack of awareness and difficulty in complying with laws and regulations related to reasonable adjustments and work, health and safety
- Policies, procedures and practices that unfairly discriminate and prevent individuals from applying for, securing and sustaining a job
- Employment discrimination and bias relating to address, age, sex, gender, multicultural backgrounds etc
Barriers & Influences
Rather than just looking at the individual barriers for a person looking for employment, we need to look at the influences on unemployment. These are the things these individuals have no control over and have not contributed to. We can break these influences into three categories: environmental, systems and personal influences.
Environmental influences – refers to the community or geographical area within which a person lives:
The economic state of the community, the educational options and access to community and health services in their area such as: mental health services; alcohol and other drug services; and dental health. Also, if the community is in a regional or remote area this is also an important factor, as these services are often not obtainable.
Systems influences – these don’t just refer government systems but also organisational systems:
Online recruitment for example is making it difficult for people who don’t have access to the internet and a computer. In some cases, the recruitment, induction and training process is all done online.
Traineeship and apprentice positions now have requirements that can make them feel out of reach for many, such as:
“You will have excellent references and a proven interest in this trade as well as a great work ethic. You must have reliable transport, a white card and a year 12 completion.”
Personal influences – refer to a person’s immediate environment such as their family situation, role models and immediate community:
These influences tend to shape a person significantly. For example, if no one in your family has ever finished year 12 or had a job then you are more likely not to finish school and be long-term unemployed.
Barriers
People (especially people from low socioeconomic communities or families) can face multiple and complex barriers to work. Looking for work can be a soul-destroying undertaking for someone that is trying their hardest to find employment.
It is often stated that ‘unemployed people don’t have jobs because they just don’t want to work’ and that might be the case for a small percentage but is not the case for most unemployed people.
When we break it down into the individual barriers that some of these people face, it is understandable that they can feel overwhelmed and disheartened.
Individual barriers to employment include:
- no access to internet
- no experience
- mental illness
- no licence
- lack of education
- bias
- lack of self worth
- social isolation
- physical health issues
- criminal record
- housing issues or homelessness
